The Hunting Spider
by CalmIsOverrated
Summary: (Discontinued) When Peter Parker was six he was bitten by one of his father's experiments which gave him spider-like powers. Shortly after his family was killed and he was kidnapped by HYDRA. He was turned into the mercenary known as The Hunting Spider. When the Avengers catch wind of him what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

**The Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part One**

 **Chapter- 1**

Children were curious, it was simply human nature for them. Now Peter Parker was already an unusual little boy. Even at the age of young six he far bypassed his classmates with his intelligence. But with that intellect came the ranvious hunger of curiousity.

His mother and father were both scientists so it was not much surprise they received a son who would easily become far smarter than either of the pair. He enjoyed (and understood) the science books his parents casually left around their small loft. It wasn't as big as Flash Thompson's, but it was home for the small boy.

"Good night, Petey," a soft feminine voice, his mother, called from across the hall as she heard her only child walk back to his own room after using the restroom. "Night momma," he replied back with a large smile on his face. His father probably wouldn't be back until later that night so he wouldn't wait up to tell him good night. His dad would understand. So he crawled under the blankets, resting his dirty, slightly broken glasses on top of the books stacked on his nightstand. He had told his parents he'd tripped. He did fall but not of his own clumsiness, he was pushed. By Flash, who had been teasing the small child yet again.

After a little while of restlessly tossing and turning in his bed, Peter finally gave up on trying to sleep. The child sat up, tossing the smothering blankets away and silently got out of bed. He could at least go see if his father was back home yet. So the child walked, jumping over the noisier of the floorboards to try and stay quiet. His parents didn't sleep nearly as often as they should have, even Peter, the six year old knew that, and he didn't want to disturb them with his restlessness.

He peeped his head into his parents ajar door. His mother was gently snoring but his father wasn't there. _Probably still in his lab_ , Peter thought as he walked towards the lab doors where his father and mother spent a majority of their time. They were workaholics and were plenty easy to predict to the small child.

The door was already open like the bedroom door so he walked in. He loved the labs. Everything was shiny and always sparkling when the light hit it. "Hey dad, you in here?" His small voice bounced back at him making his small. To his relief his father answered back. "Yep, back here, Pete. What are you doin' up?"

"Can't sleep," he replied as he made his way to his father. When he couldn't sleep he'd come to the labs often because usually one or both parents were up. As he made his way, something caught the six year old's attention.

It was a jar, there were hundreds in the lab but this was different. It was quite unlike any other he'd seen before. It had the body of a black widow but entirely different coloration.

The two colors colors were beautiful reds and blues that never mixed but touched anyways. He watched it, hypnotized by the spider's intricate web movements as it spun it's design. He didn't notice the fact it had no lid or the loose spider suspended above his hand by the shelf. Until it was too late that was.

With a yelp Peter jumped, flinging his hand to dislodge the cause of pain. Then there was a crash and his father, a disheveled looking man with far too many grey hairs for his age appeared. He was suddenly crouching right in front of Peter to be eye level with his small child.

"Are you okay? Did anything touch you?" Richard asked anxiously as he examined his son's face for anything out of the ordinary.

Peter shook his head, the curly brown mop falling into his eyes as he unconsciously tugged the cotton pj sleeve down over the swelling bite on his wrist. "I'm fine dad, they just, uh, scared me a bit."

"Good," the man sighed in relief, tension finally dissipating from the man's shoulders. "We'll talk about the lab rules tomorrow night. But for now you should get to bed, Pete. You have an exciting day tomorrow. School and then Ben and May are coming over." His dad waved him off and Peter gave a smile at the thought of seeing his aunt and uncle. Ignoring the fact he'd have to get a talk he instead just happily skipped off.

He didn't notice his father's frown as he stared at the nearly empty jar that had contained the radioactive spiders. The man shook it off quickly, they had less than twenty-four hours to get this done and to keep Peter and the rest of their family safe.

The man resumed his earlier activity of shoving every research paper he saw and stuffed in into the oversized bag. He dragged them to the furnance in the lab and began feeding the papers to the flames. A shredder was too risky in this situation. He'd destroy his experiments afterwards to make sure nothing was salvagable.

The paper fed flame light shone and highlighted every feature on Richard's face. From the beads of sweat lining his forehead from being this close to the roaring flame, to the emotional fire in the man's eyes as his watched his life's work crumble to ash. He regretted nothing if it kept his family safe.

.oO0Oo.

In the morning, Peter's mother knocked on the child's door. He heard his mother say to start getting ready for school. Peter yawned and scratched his wrist, not even thinking about the gesture. His eyes widened and he glanced down, shocked. His pale wrist was entirely healed, not even a simply blemish or scar marred the smooth skin where the area had been swelling and had a burning pain hours prior.

The incident last night was quickly and nearly entirely forgotten. Except for his later lab talk he'd be getting. He finally finished shrugging on a t-shirt when his mother called that his breakfast was getting cold. He smiled and rushed to go find something to eat, he was ravinous.

The spider from last night however had only one thing on its mind as it crawled through the air vents and out the attic window. Survival. And it did all this before Peter finished his oatmeal and went to go wait for the bus. The peaceful tranquillity blanketing the house wouldn't last long, because in less than twenty-four hours, when all of the family was home, the entire house would be burnt down to a crisp. Only four bodies would ever actually be found and they were; the residential scientists, Mary and Richard Parker, and Richard's brother and wife. It was thought he was closer to the source flame and simply burned into ashes. In reality, he survived.

Their son, Peter Benjamin Parker, wouldn't ever be the same again.

.oO0Oo.

A silent shadow jumped across the building's flat rooftops. He could swing, but it was too noticeable. He was to not be discovered or there would be consequences...

He landed on the Oscorp building's roof. His destination for this particular heist. Using his powers he scaled the side skillfully and silently.

He look down to watch as an armed guard walked below him, never once looking up. It amused him how few people actually looked up. He activated his laser gloves- not his own power. It simply came with the suit- and traced a circle big enough for him to crawl through.

When the gloves had finally cut through the glass he gave it a push and it fell through. In an instant he used his webs, to suspend the glass and crawled through. He flipped midair and landed in a crouch silently. He was on the third story of the building. Labs were on the third to the fifth floors, or so the blueprints said.

He brought out the scrap piece of paper with his instructions on it, he didn't need to of course. He'd had it memorized soon after receiving it. He found it an extremely useful idea. But it never hurt to double check.

First step; Get in. _Done._

Second; Receive the case in the radioactive containment ward, in room 293.

He darted through the halls, his feet so quick they hardly did more than skim the floor. His hands darting out to web and never once miss the video cameras. Then the high tech goggles in his mask alerted him to the security up ahead. A sensitive laser grid crisscrossed the empty hall. He wondered if he should deactivate it or have a little fun. He took a step backwards then broke into a run. He somersaulted over the first then dunked into a squat to avoid three different beams. He used various tricks until he reached the other side with a flourish.

He took a deep breath and looked around for the biohazard sign. _Found it._ He walked down the hallway and into the room, not paying any attention to the multiple signs warning people to wear full bodied suits and to not handle anything in the rooms without proper protection. He didn't care though, what the suit didn't protect from he could handle.

Inside, on a pure white desk was a leather briefcase, that was probably lined with lead, with the words 'Do Not Open' in bolded letters. He picked up the case and prepared to leave.

 _Check._

He left the room, silently sprinting down the halls while webbing every security camera. He rounded a corner and nearly ran- thanks Spider-sense- straight into a young woman about his age. She had emeralds for eyes and golden hair. She was wearing a blue tank and jean shorts. In one hand she had a flashlight- which she was shining at his masked face- in her other hand was some files- which she hid behind her. He nearly gasped, thankfully he didn't. The girl seemed just as surprised as he was.

Then her eyes hardened despite her surprise and she frowned. "Who are you?" She demanded on a steely tone.

He didn't have time for this. He was already discovered, he didn't need to make his coming punishment worse by talking. Technically he was supposed to kill anyone who saw him...

 _Yes, kill her. Kill her..._

He raised his hand, preparing deliver the fatal blow then stopped. He gripped his head to shake off his hesitancy. Why was he having such a hard time doing this? He was the Hunting Spider. He's killed hundreds- though none of that could be proven- why is he hesitating now?

Instead he simply pointed his web shooters and webbed her mouth shut then stuck her to the wall. His webs dissolved in an hour, and by then he'd be long gone. He could already feel his danger sense telling him this wasn't going to end well. For him. The cameras were already covered and as long as he never said otherwise they'd assume he'd killed her. He continued his path and slipped out of the building, shooting his web onto a surrounding building and swinging away with one hand.

Step three; Get out. _Check._

.oO0Oo.

He arrived at the drop point with two minutes to spare. It was on a random roof in Queens. There standing partly conceled in the shadows cloaked man with- wait, were those tentacles coming from his back? The man was easy to read, easier than most of their other clients. He was obviously impatient and looked to be in a hurry. He landed in front of the man, keeping his head down and placed thethe case on the ground in front of him.

The man shot forwards, clutching the case almost protectively and started muttering about something. He only caught a few words "Vemon", "Space", and "Power" were the ones that stood out the most. But it was none of his business.

The man handed him a black case. It was heavy, more than likely either money or something else they wanted... Now, to head back to Hydra.

Step Four; Exchange the items. _Check._

He jumped off the roof, dread filling his already empty stomach. His mind filled with the horrors that awaited him for disobeying. Allowing himself to be seen and then not eliminating the person who saw him... Why though? What's so special about her?

He wanted to run away, to leave forever. But he couldn't, they'd track him somehow. It wasn't like he could escape, he couldn't even leave without their knowledge. He was their project, and they weren't going to let him leave.

He swung for a while then landed on the ground in a familiar, empty alleyway he hid his 'inconspicuous civilian' clothes. He took off his mask and gloves, put the regular clothes on over them and walked into the crowded streets of a city that never slept.

He took a deep breath of the city air. He looked our among the people. He watched, jealously, as he wished he could be among them. The one's who crossed the streets with nothing in mind besides getting from point 'A' to 'B'.

Paying the dangerous stranger no attention as they went about their lives. A newspaper blew loosely in the city air. Curious, he skillfully picked the paper out of the air with his free hand. On the front page was a picture of the Avengers. How they saved the city... Again. With a scoff he threw the paper back to the wind behind him and walked off.

He remembered a time when he was young and he worshipped everything Captain America... He even had a Captain America lunchbox. He remembered feeling safe before... And how no one ever came to save him.

He remembered his past, everything. They couldn't take it away so he still had it. He didn't know if having memories made it better or worse.

But it felt like that Peter was gone now. Gone with the experiments and pain as the cruel organization slowly tried to work their way to ruling the world. They often used Peter like a weapon. Which he was in a way. He could do things no one else could. They'd tried to recreate what he was- his mutation- but it never worked. They all died from the venom, slowly and painfully. It was deadly for anyone but him.

He landed on the roof where a sleek black helicopter sat. It wasn't very big, just enough for him and the pilot to sit comfortably. He hopped in, the entire journey spent in silence.

.oO0Oo.

Gwen felt the webbing start to weaken. She yanked with her wrist and pulled it away from the wall. She ripped of the gag and pulled out her phone to call the police.

"Yes, hello... My name is Gwen Stacy... There's been a break-in at Oscorp... No I'm outside and saw him enter."

.oO0Oo.

 _Word: 2,500_

 _T_ _his Spider-man is Tom Holland_.

 _Civil War never happened (there were no winners in that movie)._


	2. Chapter 2

**Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part One**

 **Chapter- 2**

Was this how he, Tony Stark, yes _the_ Tony Stark, wanted to spend his weekend? Absolutely not. Why was he even here again? An agent nearly bumped into him then walked away apologizing profusely.

Oh yeah. SHIELD forced him and his team to investigate the break-in at Oscorp.

He silently thought of all the things he'd _rather_ be doing than this. Hanging out with Pepper Potts. Hanging out with his Science Bros, Bruce Banner. Even bugging Happy sounded better than this. The list went on. The sooner this was over with, the sooner he could go back home to Avenger's tower.

SHIELD had already talked with the only witness, daughter of the police captain, Gwen Stacy. She hadn't seen much, besides a physical appearance, outfit, and the strange web-like restraints. He- according to Gwen's description Tony was pretty sure he was male at least- didn't match any _known_ criminal that was for sure. Or maybe there were never witnesses, but Tony didn't want to jump to conclusions... Yet. Maybe that was why they need the Avengers. To find out who this is and stop him.

"What was stolen?" Natasha aka Black Widow asked.

"An experimental space-goop, for lack of better terms. Also called V 252, it was going to be added as a new element, if they could stabilize it that is," Phil Coulson answered coming from behind the group. He'd been looking for any trace of anything that could be used to trace the criminal.

They all nodded, Bruce and Tony both shared a look. "Can I have some of the data and research they got from it?" Tony asked.

"Maybe, I'll have to talk to Norman Osborn. The owner of this lab. I'll see what I can do though," he got out his phone and walked away.

"I am curious as to what these 'webs' Stacy described are. Are they even organic? Hmm," Bruce frowned in thought.

The usual speed of Tony Stark's mind, if possible, increased. "But why leave her alive?" Tony mumbled.

Not sure if he heard right, Clint asked, "What?"

"Adjust your hearing aid, Barton. I said, why keep the girl alive? Why not kill her? I mean as soon as she was able she called the cops."

Natasha frowned in thought. "Maybe he wanted to keep her alive? Let's keep her under guard and maybe bring her to the tower once in a while to keep her safe until we've found out who this is."

.oO0Oo.

Peter Parker- or SM62 as his files said- was in pain. He was currently trying to nurse his shredded side. Messy stitches that laced across his inflamed side, no matter how much they pulled and stung, did their job to stop the bleeding. For the most part. The rest of the vital liquid continually seeped through his fingers. He wasn't too worried though, it should stop bleeding soon. He'd have been dead long before this if not for his healing factor. Even with that, thanks to the lack of much food and rest it would take a few days to heal entirely. Of course, most of his other minor scratches and bruises would be gone within twenty-four hours.

His mind, sometime during the near decade of imprisonment, had just began blocking out the punishments Peter was given for disobeying. They ranged from simply beating him, experimenting, to trying out new weapons designed to take down Captain America or the Hulk.

This time one had a blaster, designed to incapacitate one of the more powerful Avengers. This one was more painful than a gunshot wound, he knew from experience. Not all his victims went without a fight.

And he hadn't been expecting it. His spidey-sense had activated too late. The one with the blaster had gotten a lucky hit on his side. They'd stitched him up- they couldn't have him dying while he was still useful- and then took him back to his cell. They weren't gentle nor did they care if they messed up his stitches, they'd thrown the tiny teen to the hard floor.

He silently cried through the pain- because he didn't dare make a noise- tears trailing down his face and his breathing grew quicker and more shallow as he tried not to break down entirely. When the panic faded he felt even more exhausted than he had initially, breathing heavily.

Carefully, he curled into as much of a ball as he could. As if to protect him from the cold concrete floor which he was laying on and the monsters outside his door. His cell was small and made of the cold which seemed to leach his strength, not even a bed was in the small room. The cold helped to dull the pain but replaced it with a numb feeling.

He sighed and tried not to fall asleep as his eyes grew heavier. The nightmares were sometimes worse than just being awake, but it seemed like he didn't have much of a choice.

As much as he tried, the needed to heal. That, coupled with blood loss, and lack of good food he was slowly being dragged down into the darkness. He finally gave up fighting and slipped into the unfeeling darkness.

.oO0Oo.

 _Next day_

Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers were walking outside in civilian clothes. Hardly anyone noticed them in the crowded streets of New York, Manhattan. Well, Steve had his shield strapped across his back but that was normal. Besides the occasional double take no one noticed, or rather they were just used to seeing superheroes.

Their attention was quickly captured by a large explosion that shook the ground. Several car alarms went off and a few people screamed and started running past the three.

They exchanged a look and the two assassins and solider took off. Running against the crowd in the direction of the chaos.

In the street was a creature Who's skin was an oily black and seemed to be moving, it had eight giant legs coming from it's back. They'd be needing backup for this! Clint's hand automatically went to his ear and began requesting backup from the rest of the team (Only Tony answered. War Machine and Falcon were currently working on some project in SHIELD. Bucky was who knows where at the moment, though he'd be back before dinner).

A **Crash** and a scream brought their attention to what tentacle number 7 was doing; pulling the top part of a shop off and throwing it.

Springing into action Steve quickly grabbed the two children who had been staring, paralyzed. He got a good distance away, out of the 'danger zone' and set them down. He pulled his half-mask down and reached for the shield and swung it towards the creature.

Steve, or as he was called in uniform Captain America, watched it equal parts shock and horror as a tendril shot out and threw it back. He grabbed it but was thrown backwards with the force.

The others were having similar luck and were just trying to bash it backwards until the Tony got here with a weapon to take it down. That was until Black Widow let out a pained cry, the creature was wrapped around her middle and squeezing tightly. One arm was free of the bone-crushing squeeze and she aimed her wrist at the creature and shot into its skin with her electric darts.

It screeched, released Black Widow, and started convulsing.

"Electricity messes with it!" Black Widow yelled through the coms.

Clint and Widow started hitting it with everything they had while dunking, diving, and dodging every sloppy hit. Steve, recognizing he wasn't helpful in _this_ part of the situation, started getting all the civilians out of the way.

There was a _whoosh_ of repulsers then the sound of metal hitting the concrete next to Clint. He was perched on the top of a building the creature hadn't managed to destroy. His purple hearing aids shone in the afternoon sunlight. Tony's helmet came up revealing the face of an exhausted mechanic. "So, what is it?" Tony asked skipping straight to the point.

"I'm not sure," Clint said.

"Well what am I supposed to work with here?" Tony asked, exasperated.

 _"Stark!"_ A sharp voice barked over the coms, one he recognized as Widow.

"Yeah, Nat? Got any better info than bird-brain?" Huff from bird-brain that went ignored.

 _"Electricity seems to make it lose its hold on the host."_

"I already knew the electricity thing so I- Wait! Host?! It's a symbiote?!"

 _"Yep, when I hit a tentacle, for a moment it separated and I saw human flesh. Whoever they are is needed to keep its shape,"_ she said sounding annoyed.

"Okay, get the human neutralize the symbiote. Let's do this. Oh, and Cap, I got you a new toy," he said, smirking. His metal mask went back down to shield his face and he took off.

Tony flew over Steve who was heading back. "Need a lift?" Tony asked flipping onto his back and gliding besides him.

Steve rolled his eyes but allowed Tony to pick him up and zoomed towards the symbiote. He set them down a few yards from the nearest tentacle.

"Here, Capsicle, take this," With that he threw something at Steve who caught it instinctively. He opened his hands and there were two metallic gloves.

"What do they do?" Steve questioned.

"Put them on and press the button," Tony answered then salutes and takes off. He shot a modified repulser at the creature.

Steve looked at the gloves skeptically and put them on and hit the red button. His fingers tingled and the hair on the back of his neck rose. Electric gloves. Of course.

He flexed his hands and ran towards the symbiote. He drew back his fist and punched with his superhuman strength. Thousands of volts of electricity went through its body with all of their combined work. The venom seemed to break apart then converge again, over and over again.

Tony suddenly gasped over the coms. He flew forwards, past Natasha and Steve, at the symbiote. He saw something they hadn't. They all shouted out in surprised for him to stop just as he barreled through it. When he came out the back he was holding someone.

The Symbiote, suddenly without host, collapsed to the ground like a puddle of oil. It started writhing and making inhuman screeching noises as it tried to regain a form. Iron man turned to stare as he laid down the host.

"We need to contain it!" He yelled.

"But with what?!" Clint asked, though he had to yell over the noise.

"Anything! It's probably weakened enough we can contain it until we get a proper container," Tony yelled back.

Natasha walked forwards with a clear plastic water bottle in hand. As it lunged at her she scooped it into the bottle and capped it.

"Let's get going," she said. The screeching was slightly muffled so they could hear themselves think now. "And bring him."

They all glanced at the man they'd saved and Clint's eyes widened, the others having similar shocked reactions. Along the mans spine were four metal arms, mirroring the ones the symbiote had created. The man himself didn't look too eccentric. Black greasy hair, pale slightly grey skin, and some interesting goggles. He didn't look too far from a hobo. That was if there was a red skull with tentacles around it on the shoulder of his black suit.

.oO0Oo.

Back at Avengers Tower Natasha gave Tony and Bruce the Symbiote to contain in the labs. Gwen was sitting in the main room watching the news. The teen would be going home soon with a ride thanks to Happy. Natasha on the other hand went to see their newly identified Otto Octavious.

She strode in and sat down at one of the two tables. The room was painted a dark grey and thanks to the there being only one florescent light it was dark and gave off a vibe of impending doom. Natasha rather liked it, she was in her element here. She could make anyone talk. The light was centered on a man who was sitting in the chair across from her. His arms (including the metal ones) were handcuffed to the table and floor. His head bent down and he was barely moving.

"Hello, Doctor Otto Octavious. My name is Black Widow. Things will be easier if you tell us who gave you the symbiote," she said, getting right to the point.

"HYDRA," Octavious spat. "It was supposed to be a new element to build things like armor and weapons. Lighter than a feather and stronger than titanium. But it turned out to be a life form of sorts. I, caught unawares, was forcefully bonded with it."

Natasha blinked in slight surprise at his exact answer. "Can you tell me who gave it to you?" Natasha was trying to choose her words carefully and slowly. The man obviously ranted often, and when one rants they tend to let things slip.

"The one they call the Hunting Spider retrieved it and brought it to me. Certainly a strange but powerful one," Otto said.

"Can you tell us anything more?"

"Unfortunately no. I know nothing more. If I did I'd be perfectly fine with letting you handle my revenge for me. I'm a scientist, Black Widow, I have more important things to do than dirty my hands," the man said, shrugging as if he honestly didn't care either way.

Natasha nodded and stood without another word. She left through the single door and started heading back towards the rest of her team. All the way she was thinking about three things. Who was this 'Hunting Spider'? And how did HYDRA come across him? How dangerous was he?

 **.oO0Oo.**

 _W_ _ord: 2,400_

 _Sorry if anything's OOC._

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed!_

 _~Reviews~_

 _cabrara1234: Tom Holland is actually what I imagine in this ('cause he's my favorite). Sorry, I really should have clarified that. Like I said, this is my first time writing something where there are multiple versions. I fixed it on the first chapter._

 _Sherlockian445: You are too nice :D_


	3. Chapter 3

**Avengers and The Hunting Spider**

 **Part One**

 **Chapter- 3**

When Peter awoke the pain on the rest of his skin was nearly gone, now just a dulling ache. Besides the wound of his side. Wondering what had woke him he sat up stiffly. Stifling the whine of protest that came from his mouth. His skin was still littered with fresh blue and purple bruises. But this time there were more of the yellow and green of healing and fading ones.

After the mental check of injuries he then turned his attention to what woke him. Near the door in the little food slot was a plate, bowl, and cup of water. They knew of his metabolism and knew it was in fact in _their_ better interests to keep him fed most of the time. That didn't mean they had to make it taste good.

In his bowl was a strange high-in-everything-you-need slop. On the plate was a slice of something pink (maybe meat?)? And a glass of plain water. His stomach both protested the thought of food and felt like it was collapsing. He knew they sometimes put things in his food. He thought about simply not eating and trying to waste away until they could no longer use him. The thought quickly vanished. They could simply force him to eat or punish him.

The hopelessness of his situation made him lose his appetite further. He was a weapon, only useful if they decided he should be allowed. Could he ever escape this place?

Sighing, though no noise came from his mouth, the teen slowly ate, washing the food down with the water. Trying to cherish eating and not being sent out on some mission.

He heard a bang from outside his cell. He looked up and through the slot on the door. A bald man in traditional Hydra attire who looked impatient.

He quickly drank and ate the rest and stood with his head bowed. It was against the rules for him to speak, or to make eye contact with them.

 _Training time._

.oO0Oo.

As Natasha finished speaking the entire team seemed deep in thought. Clint was perched on the arm of the couch near her. He was lightly rubbing her shoulder in a comforting attempt.

"Wait, I think I know that name..." Bucky trailed off and gained a vacant look he had whenever his mind was in _that_ place.

"If he's HYDRA he could be mind-controlled," Tony offered. He didn't notice Bucky Barnes' flinch at the mention of Hydra's mind control.

"Possible," Natasha said quietly looking at the wall in front of her. "If so, then we'll have to help him. Get him out of there then take him to Wakanda or find some other way to reverse it. But either way he needs to be stopped, he's obviously dangerous and has managed to stay off SHIELD's radar for a while."

"Yeah, great plan and all but we're kind of missing something important like, how? We don't even know where he's being held," Tony said.

"I might know," Bucky spoke up. "They have multiple facilities over the world. The nearest one is probably here in New York."

"Hooow?" Tony asked, drawing out the word.

"They're good at not being noticed, unless they want," Natasha said, lips pursed in thought.

"FRIDAY, scan for any suspicious or HYDRA activities in New York," Tony said. The screen lit up with a list and they watched as the list began swiping away events and putting ones in. Most of the events on the list were spread out but there were four or five within two decades in Queens. One stood out slightly to Tony and he winced, a family of five burned alive inside their house.

"Should we contact Fury?" Steve asked while looking between Clint and Natasha.

They both exchanged a look then nodded. If this involves HYDRA at least Fury should know. Plus they knew a situation could get out of control quickly if they weren't aware of everything.

"FRI, call Fury, I want to get this over with as soon as possible," Tony sighed as he rubbed his face with his hand.

"Of course, boss," the AI said.

The screen came to life showing an African American man in dark clothes with an eye patch. "Stark," he greeted.

"Fury," Tony mocked.

Fury rolled his eye and took a deep breath to steel himself for dealing with Tony. "How's the investigation coming?"

"It's... Interesting. There's more to it," Natasha spoke up, saving Fury from Tony's smart mouth.

Interest peaked, Fury asked, "What do you mean?"

She paused and looked off-screen. "There's more to the isotope that was stolen. We managed to retrieve it and we have it at the tower."

This time Bruce cut in. "But it's not just that, V 252 appears to be alive and symbiotic or parasitic. We retrieved the host who's also the buyer. And we have a name and information on the supposed thief."

"Best part here. The one who stole it is under HYDRA's control," Tony cut in, not exactly happy to have been silenced most of the conversation.

Fury froze for a second then nodded. "I'll be there soon. I'll take the symbiote into SHIELD custody. I expect you to have the available information on our thief." With that the screen turned black.

.oO0Oo.

He was led to an empty exercise room. His footsteps were loud crashes to his sensitive ears. Without much background noise it always became worse. His senses had to be kept in a balance, too little sensory deprivation, too much sensory overload. They knew about that and it was one of his least favorite punishments.

The cuffs on Peter's hands were taken off. Without them reducing his powers he felt his body begin to knit itself back together quicker. He healed quicker than most, which is the only reason he survived at all.

.oO0Oo.

 _Eating dinner together for the small family was something that happened every night but it was rare his Aunt and Uncle came over. Both relatives loved their nephew very much and stopped by as much as possible but they lived a few hours out._

 _Well,_ ** _he_** _was different. He felt stronger, his senses heightened, a pencil even stuck to his hand in math. He had nearly hurt Flash though, he was the bully who was two years older and had decided to make Peter's life terrible. He took out his anger often on the smaller boy._

 _"Peter, honey. Could you set the table?" His Mother called._ _"Yeah," Peter answered back, guilt making his stomach feel sick as he set out his task. He was rather small for his age so the plates and utensils were sitting on the counter where he could reach them._

 _Peter picked them up and started setting the table. He was surprised that there were five plates instead of three when he remembered his Aunt and Uncle where coming over. He'd always love to listen to his Uncle talk with his catchphrases and to help him with projects. Peter was good at solving problems and fixing things. He also liked to try and help his Aunt, though neither are very good._

 _When he finished his Father came up from behind him and tried to ruffle his hair. Keyword, tried. There was a strange feeling in the back of his neck that said 'Move! Danger!'. He managed to dodge his Father's hand but almost knocked over a plate. It was only his Father. Not danger._

 _"Careful kiddo," Dad said, smiling warmly and_ _amusedly_ _at his son. The doorbell rang. "Must be your Aunt and Uncle. I'll be right back."_

 _Peter heard the door open and his father greeting his brother and his wife. Peter quickly raced from the room towards his Uncle and Aunt. He launched his six year old body into his Uncle's arms. Which he was actually able to do. Usually he could only wrap his arms around himself Uncle Ben's legs like an anchor. Aunt May start laughing, she adjusted the pie she brought so that she didn't drop i_ _t._

 _The man seemed surprised then started laughing with his wife. "I take it you were excited to see me, squirt?" And Peter vigorously nodded and took in the sight of his Uncle. The man had salt and pepper hair, brown eyes, and was dressed in a plaid blue and green shirt with khakis. "Yeah, Uncle Ben! I can't wait for you to see my ant hill project I'm doing in science._

 _"Let's get some dinner in your belly, Pete, and_ ** _then_** _we can go see your ants," his Uncle said putting the small child down. Peter nodded with a huge smile and followed the adults to the kitchen where his Mom was just finishing with the Smoked Sausage Pasta._

 _His parents set the plates and they all sat down like a complete family._ _As Peter went for a bite he smelled something strange he rubbed his nose. It smelled like something burning. Wood, paint, and drywall. "D-do you smell that?" Peter asked._

 _Ben and his Dad looked up simultaneously. Ben's eyes widened and looked to the stove while Dad raced to the window and peered outside. Obviously he didn't like what he saw and drew back shakily. "Honey, grab Peter. Let's get to the safe room._

 _Peter's adrenaline spiked at his Dad's tone which was low and serious. Suddenly he felt the same feeling from earlier that was telling him something was wrong- which he nicknamed his danger-sense- and it was telling him to get out of the way._

 _Mom nodded and moved and picked him up and he stifled a scream as his danger-sense went from a slight tingling in the back of his skull to pounding with his pulse._

 _Peter gripped his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He squirmed in his Mom's arms. Through this he heard his family yelling and could feel the movement. His advanced hearing heard a_ ** _CRACK_** _coming from above them. He had just looked up when the flaming ceiling came crashing down upon them all and a blinding, burning pain was all that Peter knew._

 _Thanks to his healing factor he survived as the agents began swarming the remains of the house disguised as firefighters. The_ _Parkers_ _had been one step ahead of HYDRA the entire time. They had burned their works except the spiders, which had all perished within the flames. Then, by chance they stumble upon Peter, they watched as the six year-olds began healing before their eyes, leaving no trace but lashing burn scars on his chest. Peter had his father's research inside of his body itself. They had a way to replicate the_ _Parker's_ _works, through the child._

.oO0Oo.

Peter shook his head slightly and quickly wiped his face of all emotions at the sudden onslaught of memories. They were from _that_ night. _Huh, must have stopped without realizing it_ , he mused when he'd realized he'd quit. That always happened when the memories came. He started moving again before anyone noticed and went over to his first activity of the day and picked up a weight.

They began adding another few hundred pounds. The scientists were furiously scribbling notes on every move he made. He wished he was back in his cell, he never thought he'd say it but he missed the grounding cold in the cell. How it seemed to numb not only his body but his mind as well. Here it was hot and uncomfortable. He was painfully aware of everything. The grating metal as they added more to the weight, he felt the sweat dripping down his forehead and neck, every smooth sound of pen on paper as the scientists took note of their experiment.

Then a guard shouted something in the other language and pointed for him to continue on in his routine. Peter nodded- though he didn't understand the most of the language he knew commands- and went to the next exercise. The treadmill. Even though training was easy his sore body was still trying to heal and the constant moving didn't help (he swore he'd sleep for a year if he ever got out).

This part was easy, it was what came after- fighting- that he dreaded. Many of the things he fought were failed enhanced humans. Usually they had extreme mutations but most of all, they were far more trained than Peter in hand-to-hand combat, stronger, or had powers that messed with him.

A whistle sounded and they lead the teen to the sparring mat. Peter got in and tried to prepare his already battered body for the upcoming fight.

.oO0Oo.

When Nick Fury entered the compound he could hear talking coming from the kitchen. He silently made his way over. Steve and Natasha were the only ones who noticed his arrival at first. They were all sitting around the table and eating. Bucky was just playing with his food- the others either didn't notice or knew the reason. Natasha waved him over and the others became aware of his presence.

The others seemed to have been expecting the man's arrival but Tony was busy reenacting something. "-And so then he put his _hammer_ on top of the only toilet on that floor! Do you know how many employee complaints I got that day? All because I ate one of his pop-tarts." The other heroes seemed bored of his stories. Clint, seeing his opportunity, tapped Tony's shoulder while smirking and pointed behind him.

Tony turned around, then jumped so high he nearly fell out of his seat. He clutched his chest dramatically as he declared, "Holy shit, Fury. I'm going to get you a bell if you keep doing that."

Director Fury simply gave a nod of acknowledgment to the others at the table, completely ignoring Tony's squawks of annoyance. "Do you have the information?" Natasha didn't respond and instead just brought out a folder.

Fury took it and opened it skimming through its contents. "Now, we can get started."

.oO0Oo.

 _Argent-Jinx: Me too. Honestly there aren't enough stories where Peter is taken by HYDRA._

 _Guest Spider-Bat: I know. He's an innocent lil bean who we (all the fans plus Tony) have all pretty much adopted am I right? I might do something with IW when (not if) they bring back all my babies._

 _Word: 2,400_


	4. Chapter 4

**Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part One**

 **Chapter- 4**

.oO0Oo.

The tension before this fight was tangible. If he had a knife he could cut through it. He stood in his corner of the giant square mat. It was red with the skull HYDRA symbol in the middle. There was a cage-like net around it enclosure to ensure no scuttling scientists were smashed.

His opponent was pushed onto the mat. He looked like a normal human, at least on the outside. There was a wicked grin on his face, crazed eyes, and he was constantly moving and hopping from foot to foot, he looked to be in his early thirties with mousey brown hair.

Though Peter knew he wasn't exactly a normal human, just from the crazed look in the man's eyes. His gaze was locked onto Peter's, cloudy with animalistic rage.

The guard started announcing something in the other language, Peter could only make out two words. SM68, which was his number, it was already tatooed into the inside of his wrist. And then MH238, the other man's probably.

The bald guard blew a whistle, signalling them to start. It was the crazy guy- who Peter had dubbed Mad- who struck first. Aiming for the teen's head, which Peter sensed and dunked. Mad, probably expecting this, kneed him in the stomach with far more strength than a human. It nearly knocked the wind out of him and made him gasp in pain.

Mad managed to get him on the head, knocking him backwards. Mad had seemingly and unknowingly put some distance between them and bought Peter some time, but he was getting destroyed. His side twinged in protest, and his head swam at the movement but he stood. He would probably have bruising on his side, but nothing felt broken... His most serious problem was his head messing with his balance.

Mad zoomed forwards and Peter dodged and managed to sweep the man's legs out from under him. With his momentum he flew forwards and slammed into the net. The scientists outside didn't flinch but seemed to step backwards a bit. Peter's body was on autopilot survival mode.

The man growled and jumped back up. He launched himself at Peter who was a little breathless and had no chance to dodge. Peter blocked the punch with his right arm and managed an uppercut knocking the other man back.

The man stood again and huffed like a bull and charged. Peter's spider-sense which had been dully thrumming at the back of his head came back full blast. Peter sprung into the air to flip over the man but Mad clipped his foot, knocking him off balance.

The man grabbed Peter's ankle midair and twisted him brutally. There was a crack and his grunt of pain as Mad then slammed him to the ground. The air was pushed from his lungs and his ankle felt like fire was in his veins.

Peter wheezed and winced as his danger-sense buzzed again. Maybe it was just from this angle but Mad seemed to be getting bigger and stronger as the fight wore on while Peter was just getting weaker.

The man swung again and Peter rolled out of the way. He felt the wind from Mad's fist as it punched _though_ the mat. Peter's eyes widened. He needed to finish this fight, quick, and preferably alive.

.oO0Oo.

The room was silent as Director Nick Fury finished looking through the folder of all the information they had so far. It wasn't much but it would help if they pinpoint where HYDRA was currently residing.

"HYDRA is Queens huh? I'll send a team to find out where they're at. If it's managed to stay off our radar it's not a big cell," Fury said.

"What are we supposed to do?" Natasha asked as she moved fluidly to Clint's side.

"Obviously we need _you_ to stop the cell. But if you manage to capture this 'Hunting Spider' it's a bonus," Fury stated, meeting each of their gazes with his eye. The message was clear, Fury was curious about the Hunting Spider. _That_ was their real mission.

They all seemed to nod at him, except Stark who had lost interest. He already knew Fury wanted to know about this guy- Tony felt the same way- and he didn't want the board meddling. He'd put the Avengers on the case, not one of his SHIELD teams which were sure to report what they find. Tony was planning this out already.

"I'll be back when I locate the facility," Fury said. He put down the file and left via elevator. When FRIDAY announced he'd left they all exchanged glances.

Tony furrowed his brow and turned to face Natasha and Clint. "How long do yo-"

"A week tops," they answered in unison with identical knowing smiles. If anyone could find a hidden terrorist organization of outdated Nazis in less than a week, it was definitely Fury.

.oO0Oo.

Peter sucked in a breath and forced his lungs to expand despite the screaming from his ribs. He jumped on top of Mad's shoulders lightning quick- Peter was positive he was growing and getting stronger now- and wrapped himself around the man's head in a chokehold.

Mad let out a blood curdling shriek and twisted to try and get the small teen off his back. He managed to grab his arm and pulled him off. Peter's arm socket popped with the force. Peter used the momentum to throw him over his shoulder while balancing on his good foot.

Mad didn't get back up. Seems like he could dish it but couldn't take it. Peter felt dizzy, his concussion which he'd managed to fight through had come back full force. He felt like his brain was in a jar then repeatedly shaken.

He swayed and felt himself go weightless as he collapsed. His legs suddenly were unable to support him and he felt woozy. His vision blacked out and he felt himself being picked up by the arms by multiple arms.

.oO0Oo.

It didn't even take that. Within a _day_ Fury was back in Avenger's tower with a file and location in hand. The only problem? It was two in the morning. FRIDAY had alerted Tony who was working in the lab to an intruder in the main room.

Tony had then freaked out, donning his Iron Man armor. He'd then rushed to meet the intruder while setting off the silent Avengers alarm.

When it was shown to be Fury It resulted in the others, in pajamas and all, sitting in the living room. All of them jittery with adrenaline and annoyance.

"So," Tony started, "did you _have_ to break into my tower at two in the morning?!"

"Sir, it is currently 3:12 am," FRIDAY stated.

" _Three in the morning,_ " he hissed.

"Like you were sleeping anyway," Fury droned sarcastically noticing the concerned looks pointed at Tony. Who ignored them entirely. When Tony opened his mouth with another insult to shoot off Fury had had enough.

"Stark, if you _shut up_ I will tell you why I am here," Fury snapped at the man.

Tony's eye twitched in annoyance but sat down on the couch next to Bruce. He was, for once, silent. Taking this as the best he was going to get, Fury started, "Now, I managed to get a location from one of SHIELD's sources. It's under an abandoned facility, purchased about twenty years ago by a Doctor Grant Atwell." He handed Steve the file and turned back to the Avengers.

"Tony, when's the soonest we can go?" Steve asked.

"Um, I don't know. How big is it?" Tony scratched his chin and turned to the super solider.

"It's a forty person facility... Plus prisoners..."

"We can go tonight, take down the HYDRA cell, and find our little mercenary," Tony concluded while looking at Fury.

"Good, I'll see you all tomorrow," he nodded in their directions.

.oO0Oo.

Peter could hardly tell that he was unconscious. He was in too much pain to tell exactly what was happening to him. When he finally came to it was done painfully. He was thrown into... Somewhere. He felt the hard ground jar his multiplying collection of injuries, then he heard the something metal being slammed.

He blinked a couple times until the spots in his vision finally stopped and he took in his surroundings. He was back in his cell and the memories came flooding back. He didn't move but couldn't help the tiny groan that passed his lips this time.

At least he'd won. It was... A close call for sure. His opponents were definitely getting stronger. He heard light snoring from outside his cell. His internal clock was telling him it was late, despite the florescent lights that beamed down 24/7 that barely did their jobs.

He raised a hand then promptly put it down when the pain in his shoulder made his vision go spotty for a second. He lay still trying to just to keep breathing as regularly as possible. He made a mental count of his injuries.

His shoulder, ankle, ribs, and head were the ones giving him the most grief. He remembered the snapping sound his ankle had made, broken more likely than not. He was positive his shoulder had been sprained or something when Mad had grabbed it. He winced, then regretted it, when he remembered all the hits aimed at his ribs. Mad had managed to get a lucky shot at his head, the battle at some points were only fuzzy feelings.

His head throbbed and made his enhanced senses feel fuzzy. He tried to relax and let the cool floor soothe some of the ache. This action spurred the glimpse of a memory. One time, when he was younger he fell off his bike and hit his head on the concrete. He remembered face above him, but he couldn't recall the fine details. Like what their eyes looked like, what their hair felt like, what they smelled like. Those were lost to him through time. Then he was on a couch with an ice pack, the people, his parents he thinks, were looking at him... With _concern_?

A single thought, one that he hadn't had in a while, surfaced. If he left what would happen? He couldn't go through the things he did and expect to have a quiet, _normal_ life.

Even if he got out of here he'd simply be used by someone else. To be used as a weapon, because that's what he was. Something to be used for another's gain.

He never guessed in less than twenty-four hours he'd be awoken by the intruder alarms going off.

.oO0Oo.

 _Word count: 1,800_

.oO0Oo.

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed!_

 _~Reviews~_

 _cal numbers: Ahhh! :D Tysm! I can't quit grinning like an idiot now._


	5. Chapter 5

**[Warning: Torture, blood, people who you'll want to punch (besides me or humanoid prunes).]**

 **The Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part One**

 **Chapter- 5**

Within an hour everyone was suited up and ready to go. Tony had the plane- a much smaller scaled quinjet lookalike- prepped. They were heading into HYDRA, no matter the size it posed a threat to them all. Not to mention they probably had multiple prisoners under their mind control, including the Hunting Spider. Who was both an unknown threat and their mission.

They clambered onto the plane with dark versions of their outfits. Bright blue or yellow would be noticed quickly and doesn't exactly scream stealth. Tony sat next to Bruce- who was coming in the event of an emergency, Bucky too- in the pilot seats. It took about twenty minutes to get there and the landed on the roof of an abandoned building a block away where they'd proceed on foot. Tony was on video call with Bruce, both of them working to hack in and put the cameras on loop and disable their sensors. When they succeeded they were within twenty feet of the building.

"Okay," Steve started, "here's the plan. Natasha, find any information on the Hunting Spider, you should be able to find his cell is. I'll be with you. The rest of you take care of the HYDRA soldiers. Bruce and Bucky, you'll be back-up if we need it. Our mission is to collect the Hunting Spider and take down this facility, since we have little idea how under HYDRA's control he is we are to proceed with caution." The words 'we don't want another Winter Solider situation' went through everyone's minds. "Understand?"

Everyone nodded. Tony sent the schematics to Natasha and Steve and then they advanced into the building through the empty parking lot. The paint was white and peeling and it had fading letters sprawled over the entrance gate. It was four stories tall, and used to be a food manufacturer, at least that's what his systems had said. Then a mysterious fire took out the top two floors, making them unusable, and killing nearly half of the workers. Shortly after that it was bought by Atwell who probably ran this branch- or did they call them 'heads'?- for a while.

Tony tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge. He stepped back and Steve forced it open with one hard push. It fell off the hinges and slammed onto the floor. The group entered, trying to make as little noise as possible. It was dark enough they all turned on night vision and Natasha put on her goggles that gave her an otherworldly look.

"Find an elevator shaft. Feel for drafts or hidden doors. You know, typical evil villain scientist stuff." Tony advised before they split up. They spread out only sticking to the bottom floor, and went through separate doors to investigate. There were abandoned machines everywhere and the smell of mold seemed strong. The floor was metal. He let his hand trace over the wall as FRIDAY tried to scan the room. "Sorry, sir. The building appear to be lined with lead and are messing with my scanners."

Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead. Why did the bad guys have to make this so difficult? Couldn't they just, you know, come out with their hands up? No.

Then something caught his attention. "Hello, what is this?" He walked over to the askew panel.

Tony pulled off the wall panel and dropped it with a loud **bang**. "Wow, this is like... Cliché." Behind the wall was a control board with a single button... But it had a keycard slot.

"Little more interesting," he stated, then turned his attention to his AI, FRIDAY. "Hey FRI, can override the locks for me? Oh, and turn the coms on."

"Yes, sir," she responded. The coms came on as the other Avengers were chatting idly with their reports. Tony was known to keep his off most of the time unless he found something interesting or something was happening. "Hey, I've got something out of a bad mystery movie you might wanna check it out," Tony called, even though he was already investigating.

"Okay, we'll be right there Tones," Steve said.

There were a few seconds in which the other Avengers came over, and then the red light turned green. There was a light _whoosh_ as the elevator then opened. It was stainless steel and... Small.

The four Avengers crowded in and FRIDAY took them to the underground base. When it opened they were met with two guards who were looking completely and utterly shocked. Natasha took them both out before they could even give a shout. They both slumped to the ground and Clint threw them into a, thankfully, empty room.

Tony and Clint snuck off to where there were the most heat signatures while Natasha and Steve went to the control room; which monitored everything and held the information. The guard was sitting in the chair boredly watching the looped videos. Natasha shot him with one of her Widow stingers quickly taking him out.

She then plugged in a chip Tony had given her that was designed to download all the information and wipe it. She quickly ran to the drawers with the prisoner filed pulled out a rather thick one.

 **Hunting Spider, Peter Parker, experiment SM68**

She quickly skimmed through it, the age listed made her double take. Fourteen. She's was dealing with a child, a dangerous one, but a child all the same. she knew what it was like to have a childhood stolen from her. She found one piece that captured her attention.

 **The subject has shown that his unique physiology keeps him from being entirely controlled for long periods of time. Subject is dangerous if not restrained or subdued in other ways.**

A smirk pulled at her lips. Even Bucky found it tough to stay out of HYDRA's control before T'Challa in Wakanda was able to erase the ticks from his mind. Fury would be interested to know that this child could manage to resist.

 **Cell Block 3b, door SM86.**

"Steve, I've got it," Natasha said holding up the paper. She tucked the file under her arm and they raced towards the block. The prison was set up on several different levels 1 was the bottom and 3- the one they were on- was closest to the surface.

They'd nearly reached it when the alarms started blaring and two familiar figures came up. "This was Clint's fault," Tony greeted.

"As if," named man muttered through the coms and notched an arrow which he shot it at a group of agent's feet. It exploded, throwing them back against the wall.

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too."

Clint smirked and shot a foaming arrow. "Was too."

"Was not. Wait. Fuck you, Barton."

Clint raised his eyebrows in a teasing manner and said, "Aren't you engaged, tin can?" Tony sputtered.

"You are both _literal_ five year-olds," Steve said in disbelief- it was strange he was still able to be shocked by his teammates. He narrowed his eyes then threw his shield and it ricocheted off the walls. It slammed into three of HYDRA's agents before he called it back with the magnetic arm guard.

Tony rolled his eyes, though no one could tell from under his faceplate. "You two, go get our guest," he said, "We'll hold these goons off." A bullet ricocheted off his armor, and just to prove his point he shot a repulser beam at the 'goon'. "This a research facility, there aren't many more guards. Right?"

Clint 'tsked' and said, "Unless they call for back-up."

Oh right. "FRI?"

"I am not detecting any outgoing signals," FRIDAY said loud enough to be heard over the coms. "I am detecting twenty heat signatures coming this way. It is advised we hurry in the event they manage to get back-up."

"Alright. You heard the AI. Let's get this party started," Tony shouted. Stealth was no longer needed as they'd been discovered so those two switched to their louder more effective weapons. If the facility didn't know about them yet, they certainly did now.

Steve and Natasha simply exchanged a glance. Tony was diverting the attention there so that they could find the Hunting Spider with less resistance. The duo took off running.

.oO0Oo.

Peter was harshly awoken by the sirens and the sounds of guards yelling. He understood most of the commands to be things like 'Grab the guns and move' or, just barely something roughly meaning, 'They're coming'. His mind was still groggy, sleeping off a concussion was not something Peter recommended. Was there a raid going on? Now?

This facility wasn't big. They were barely even on the radar. The only thing they actually had was... Him.

Realization dawned on him. This was his fault. The Oscorp job. His mind flashed back to his mist- no, decision- to not kill that girl. The thing was... He didn't regret it. Sure they would kill him- his father's research or not- for it, but that was one less death on his conscious.

He could use this. The small teen slowly scooted back, away from the door, into the furthest corner of his cell. He let the, fine hair-like setules to stick to the wall. Peter made sure to not put too much weight on his bad foot or shoulder and as quickly as he dared he started scaling up wall. He dunked his head against the cool ceiling as he squeezed himself into the dark corner as best he could. His black clothes helped him blend into the poorly lit cell, plus most people don't think to look _up_ immediately.

If he planned this right he might be able to escape when the door was opened when the guards or whoever came to collect him in the madness of the raid. Even if he was be hunted down by HYDRA or some number of agencies. He'd heard about something called SHIELD. He'd have to watch out for them.

He tried to control his harsh breathing but being upright was a pain. Literally, it felt like his lungs were being stabbed. He maneuvered to a more comfortable out of sight position where he could make a run for it if need be. Then he could just barely hear the door unlock. He held his breath and waited. He'd have to be patient and careful. What's five more minutes to eight years?

.oO0Oo.

They stopped at cell door, it had the cereal number: SM68. The Hunting Spider's cell. It was rather boring but it was made of enough steel to hold Steve. Natasha whipped out a security card, no one asked where she got it, and swiped it in the door's keypad. "Do not hurt him," Natasha said quietly. Steve looked questioning but nodded anyways.

The door opened with a _whoosh_ and revealed a small, empty room. They both walked in, Steve was unconvinced. They must have moved him to a different part when the alarms started. Natasha didn't make any move to leave so Steve figured she knew something. Maybe this guy had invisibility or camouflage? Nat was the only one who'd read, well skimmed, his file.

"Nat, what's-" he didn't finish because she'd raised her hand to silence him.

The child was hiding, Nat knew that. Whether he was scared or something else she wasn't sure. She remembered seeing on his file adhesive abilities to all surfaces. Instead of spotting him outright she instead looked down at the puddle of the dark vital liquid on the floor. It was smudged and a trail ledr to the far wall. The deadly assassin said one word; a name. "Peter?"

A name? Steve paused at that and followed Natasha's gaze to the floor. "Natasha," Steve warned.

"I know," she breathed silently so only he could hear thanks to being besides her and his superhearing. He then zeroed in on a sound. Shallow quick breathing. Too quick.

He side-glanced at Natasha, who didn't have super-hearing but definitely knew they weren't alone in this cell.

Steve stood in front of the door in case 'Peter' tried to make a break for it. It felt weird to finally put a name to the person they'd been looking for. He never expected something so normal. "Peter, can you come out? We just want to get you out of here," Steve bargained, ignoring the sounds of an approaching fight going on outside the cell.

They didn't expect a response but something did happen. There was a flash of black and then there was a... Kid in front of them in a crouch. Ready to spring or attack at a moments notice. Then the cell door slammed open all of a sudden hitting Steve in the back and knocking the super solider forwards.

.oO0Oo.

What he was expecting were HYDRA agents to come to his cell to try and handcuff him to take him away from the fight to some other more secure facility. If he failed he'd be captured, if he didn't he'd be more free.

This was not what he expected. The Avengers... Ones he'd seen on the occasional newspaper while out on HYDRA's errands... Entered his cell? Where they here to take him out permanently? This got more difficult for Peter. He hadn't expected for the raiders to be Avengers.

"Peter?" The word was said by the red head, Black Widow. It was his name... HYDRA never called him by his real name, he hadn't heard it in years. The name, his, was like ice water, chilling his bones and making his breathing pick up. Now was most definitely not the time for an episode. Black Widow was staring at the spot he'd been. There was a puddle of blood from his side before is closed up. If he was being honest panic and adrenaline were keeping him from feeling many of his other injuries.

The blonde's- Captain America- eyes widened as he spotted the blood. There was some whispering and shushing.

Was it really such a rare sight that it shocked them so much? Who knew Captain America was squeamish.* Blood was constantly everywhere in this place, Peter himself had blood drawn multiple times a week, those were some of the least painful parts besides being in his cell.

Peter mused silently, his thoughts all over the place at the impossibility of his current situation. It made him feel lightheaded like this couldn't be real. He shook his head. He needed to go.

"Peter, can you come out?" Cap began, his eyes not leaving the crimson liquid. Could Peter? Yes. Would Peter? Not unless he saw a better option.

"We just want-" Want to hurt him. Kill him. Make sure he'd never hurt any of their precious civilians again? He felt his breathing pick up again of its own accord.

"-To get you out of here." And then what? Peter's eyes desperately searched for an escape. There had to be one. He studied the duo, he could take them separately, maybe. Black Widow was skilled and Captain America, who had moved in front of the door earlier, was probably stronger than him. They'd unlocked his cell without putting cuffs on him so his webs would actually work so that was to his advantage. He could tak- Then he heard it and felt it.

Footsteps and his danger-sense blared. This was his chance. Peter reacted quick, leaping from his hiding spot just as the door was wretched open.

The man didn't look like much, but Peter's eyes widened and he felt his resolve begin to crumble. The man himself wasn't horrific, in fact he looked rather average; normal even. Except the pair of cuffs in his hands that he was going to use on Peter. If the man got those on his he'd be defenceless. The image in his head was almost chillingly similar.

.oO0Oo.

 _Peter was six, not an idiot, but his dully throbbing head was making it hard to think. He had no clue **where** he was. He was slowly regaining control over his body by this point. Everything hurt, especially his head and his eyes felt like they were burning. His skin felt warm and there was something metal- A table? Why was he on a table?- Underneath him. Then there was the smell, strong antiseptics that burned his nose. His throat felt like sandpaper and he let out a groan of discomfort. He heard something to his left and he stiffened._

 _"Ah! It's awake. I'm a little disappointed but I'll get over it. Now, open your eyes," the voice commanded. Whoever it was had an accent, which he would later recognize as German, and gruff voice._

 _Peter did, and standing in front of him was a man in beige clothing- a uniform he realized- with a red symbol on the shoulder. Peter recognized it- anyone he knew would had. HYDRA. Peter shifted but couldn't move his arms. Now that he was becoming more aware, he realized he couldn't move his legs either. He was strapped down tight._

 _"I wouldn't bother struggling. You see, you won't be leaving this place for a **long** while, experiment, or SM68 as you will be called. You're HYDRA's property and they won't be keen on letting you go or giving you mercy for what your **foolish** parents did. Sacrificing a near decades work because they had a sudden moral change? Doesn't matter. We'll get their research one way or another. They're gone. And no one," he paused and there was a sound of metal on metal. Peter had forced his brown eyes open again- he hadn't remembered closing them- in time to see him leering over the child with a razor sharp scalpel in hand. "-is **ever** coming to find you," he whispered and let the blade slice through the younger's cheek like butter._

 _Peter let out a strangled yell and tried to move away. "Fascinating," the man said watching as the cut healed over, leaving a faint crescent moon shaped scar along his cheekbone._

 _Then the man did it again and again to his arms and torso. He stopped long after Peter's voice had given out, when the cuts stopped healing as quick and continued to leak blood which pooled around his body and dripped off to the once pristine floors. The sickly sweet metallic scent filled his nose and his entire body was sticky with it._

 _"Take the experiment to the cell. We take tissue samples tomorrow, so make sure it doesn't die before then. They need to be fresh," he said motioning for a guard to come and take him away._

 _Peter, who was beginning feeling the effects of blood loss, saw darkness fill the corners of his vision. He was barely aware of his trembling and the fact he was too weak to walk so he was being dragged somewhere. He was thrown into a room... He was fairly certain he wasn't alone but he couldn't be sure because that someone left. Leaving Peter alone as he struggled against passing out. Maybe if he fell asleep... He would wake... Up, at home... With his... Family... Safe._

 _It would never come. Or at least in a long while or in the way he'd thought._

.oO0Oo.

Peter lunged across the few feet, ankle forgotten, in a matter of seconds. Quick as lightning the Doctor was webbed upside down against the far wall before the cuffs even hit the ground. He looked to the two Avengers who were looking at him in equal parts shock and some other emotion. Sorrow maybe? Peter didn't know nor did he care. Every cell in his body was itching to get out- to escape. He looked to them in a silently and they took it as their que.

Steve nodded and opened the door and led them out. Natasha stood behind them both taking down the occasional agent if one got close enough to the deadly woman. Steve was calling Tony, Iron Man, to tell him they'd found the prisoner and were heading back already. Peter simply webbed the agent's feet together. He managed to take more than a quarter of the dozen guards down without leaving his position between the two Avengers before-

"SM86! Fight them! Take down the Avengers," a voice yelled. Peter turned around, his face blank, to face one of the guards. He was a weapon. He'd never escape, they'd always find him. Use him.

Peter turned back to the two Avengers who were fighting off the rest. A numbness spread through his mind, he was given an order. Peter got into a ready position slowly backing away. He could still escape. If he got out now the Avengers wouldn't be able to go after him.

"SM86, attack the Avengers," he commanded his voice authoritative and loud. Peter flinched and got into a fighting position without his own consent. He tried to pull himself out of it and only succeeded in a stumble and his hands dropping for a second.

Natasha took this sign as an opportunity and yelled out, "Your name is Peter Parker. You are not controlled by them. Fight it."

Peter could barely hear her words, the beginning sounded like there was cotton in his ears, the last two words came through clear 'fight it'. And so he did. He pounced at the guard, who's eyes widened almost comically, and began viciously attacking. He was vaugely aware of the Avengers pulling him off and away and Steve checking for a pulse. He didn't kill the HYDRA guard, he knew his own strength and how much a regular human could take.

Natasha was still holding him in her grip and he pulled his arm from it. She may have extraordinary fighting skills but her strength was human. Steve looked at Natasha and nodded. Peter wanted to roll his eyes.

Like he would kill in front of the Avengers. By doing that he'd be signing his death warrant before he even got out of this one. He wasn't dumb, far from it.

"Come on, we've got to go," said a new voice with a metallic resonance that made Peter jump. The teen was mentally cursing his danger-sense for not warning him. Over his temporary scare he looked to the person who'd caused it; Iron Man.

Peter's eyes widened slightly. A time before... His Aunt and Uncle had taken him to a Stark Expo... There were aliens... H-He... What did he do? He stumbled sideways, into Steve and jumped back.

Clint and Natasha who watched the whole thing locked onto each other's eyes for a moment. "Sir, I am detecting a signal going out. It may be a distress signal and I suggest we begin moving."

Peter looked around for another person. "Wait, you could hear that?" Asked the blonde man with the arrow, Hawkeye. Peter nodded mutely.

"Sir, there is also a large heat signature approaching," the unidentified voice Peter had dubbed 'not a threat at the moment' said.

As soon as the words where said though a huge **CRASH!** resonated through the metal hallways.

Then screams and Peter's danger-sense went off and was growing progressively more intense. He heard an animalistic roar.

He remembered that sound; Mad. Except bigger and louder. He heard tearing metal, thundering footsteps, shouting, and the sound of guns.

One last fight, he thought, then I get out of here. Freedom was so close he could practically taste it. He was starting to get annoyed with all of these obstacles.

Peter got into a fighting position similar to his earlier one with his arms ready at a moments notice. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

Then it went silent for a moment, Peter could hear their breathing and elevated heart rates, silence just waiting to be broken. The door caved inwards at the shear force like it was a tissue in Mad's hands. He was throwing off the four remaining HYDRA agents like fleas. Peter dunked as one flew past his head and if Peter felt sympathetic about it he didn't show it.

He lunged at the Avengers, nothing left of the tiny man Peter had seen before. He swiped at Peter who dunked and grabbed his arm. With a grunt or exertion he threw the man, thanks to his momentum, through the wall. Mad shook his head and stood again. The Avengers were gawking at him, which he chose to ignore in favor of trying not to die.

Captain America threw his shield knocking Mad down again and Peter whipped around to face the Avengers ready to fight. Not him, but Mad. He'd deal with that problem later. At the moment he was going step by step.

Mad got up again and grabbed Iron Man by the ankle, similar to what happened with Peter (did this guy have a grudge against ankles?), and threw him into the wall. Clint shot a foam arrow at his foot and while he tried to get that out Natasha used it as a springboard to kick Mad in the face. The force of that plus the foam made the giant man fall backwards.

When Mad tried to sit up Peter didn't even have chance to finish him off. It was Captain America who took the finishing blow that took the once behemoth down.

Fight over, Peter relaxed for a minute his hand reached out to steady him. The Avengers turned back to him and Black Widow saw something behind him. She opened her mouth to shout and Peter's danger-sense activated too late.

 **Bang!** Peter didn't even feel it immediately. He saw it first. The look on his face was shocked. He put a hand to his stomach where the blood was giving the dark clothing a shine. It came away bright red in the florescent lights. He hadn't even noticed the gun pointed at his body from a fallen HYDRA guard and was mentally yelling at himself.

Then the pain came in at what felt like all at once and his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed like a ragdoll. Steve instinctively caught him before he hit the ground, his head lolling backwards, and laid him down as Natasha took care of the shooter. She kicked the gun across the hall and broke the guard's arm with a single twist and made her way back over.

"Steve, be careful. FRI says he could have internal damage," he said as he kneeled besides the American icon and downed teen, Clint on the other side.

"How bad?" Cap asked trying to assess the situation.

"She doesn't know. She can't scan him here but he could have severe injuries. Well, more severe."

"Let's get out of here before SHIELD comes. He'll freak out more in a containment ward than the Tower med-bay."

"Hold up, I thought Clint was the one that brought in strays."

"Shut up Tony," both men deadpaned. Though Clint gave a small smile. Steve remained emotionless as he lifted up his shirt to see the extent of the damage. He didn't like what he saw. Under the bullet wounds his ribs and chest were purple with bruises. His skin was littered with scars and, to everyone's horror, dissection marks. He shook himself and was about to ask for some bandages when Natasha handed him a roll of gauze and padding. The man offered a thankful smile and started to try and halt the bleeding.

Peter stayed limp, thankfully, but his face was pinched in pain as the man finished tying the bandage around his middle with what Natasha gave him. It was concerning to say the least. Steve hadn't seen him much, none them really had but he'd seen the fear in his doe brown eyes when he looked at them. He seemed one moment away from cowering away. But on the other hand he was always moving, his movements were like a caged animals. His eyes were always darting around like a bird's and he was twitchy. It was strange to see him still.

So here he was, holding the broken body of a bleeding child in the middle of the street. Tony had offered to fly him to the tower and to meet them there but FRIDAY said his ribs could puncture his lungs or the bullet could move if he was jostled too much. Instead he opted to have Bruce bring the plane around. Plus it was probably better if no one else saw the teen.

So here he was, a few feet from the entrance of the HYDRA facility- Tony had already contacted Fury to bring in the agents before they regained consciousness and were able to escape via cyanide- trying to stop the bleeding. It seemed to be working faster than a normal human's would. A healing factor most likely and thankfully.

They heard a whooshing of engines and the dark shape of the Avenger's plane landed in the street. Steve, very carefully, picked up the prone teenager and hurried aboard. Bruce let Tony take the wheel and had Steve set Peter on the plane's medical bed.

Bruce winced but pretended not to hear the groan of pain in favor of working on stopping the bleeding. The teen who had just started shivering stayed quiet otherwise. When he was sure the wound had stopped bleeding, he recognized he'd have to wait until he got to a proper medical facility to get the bullet out. Bruce covered Peter with one of the shock blankets from the overhang.

He quickly noticed the other's worried looks and tried to comfort. "I'm sure he'll be fine when I can patch him up at the Tower."

No one questioned him. Bruce wasn't a medical doctor but they had plenty at the Tower and he could probably handle it on his own. Bruce joined Tony back in the cockpit, ignoring the man's alarmed stares back to where the unconscious teen was. Steve and Natasha sat slightly closer than the others, while Bucky was staring vacantly at the wall across from him.

'He'll be fine.'

.oO0Oo.

 _Word count: 5,000_

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed!_

 _~Reviews~_

 _lil cometz: Tysm! I always think they're boring or lack character._

 _Amaxe: It might get more reviews eventually after IW dies (wrong word for this) down. You managed to find one of my incomplete sentences (my writing process is weird and I leave incomplete ones if I'm not careful)! If you look back I fixed it when I saw it. Tysm for pointing that out. As for betas, I'm not sure how you do that (I haven't even been here a year 10/17). I actually really like your fanfics and I hope you update soon. Yeah, I'm better at humor but I'm working on getting better at angst (whether that's a good or bad thing)._

 _SailorSea: Thank you. And, oh yeah. Snark, quips, and humor is so fun to write and it's kind of Peter's trademark when he's fighting crime._

 _MagicWarriorDragon: But of course. Heh heh. There's no way this is going to be a quick road to recovery for him. I do plan on covering the subject of education eventually._

 _BiggieShakur: I hope it's good :D_


	6. Chapter 6

**The Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part Two [Recovery/Healing]**

 **Chapter- 6**

The ship had just landed and Peter's condition continued to, thankfully, stabilize. The bleeding had stopped before they even landed. Bruce was still worried about infection being a problem later.

Steve picked up the teen, who had been rather unresponsive, then he, Bruce, and Tony rushed to the med-bay. Bruce then kicked the other two out and started preparing to remove the bullet. The teen's shirt had already been torn by Steve to wrap it so Bruce decided to remove the rest of it. The pants were intact and weren't in the way, he noticed the ankle and would go back to that later.

After a quick examination it turned out the bullet was the least of Peter's problems- like that nasty concussion. But it was his most prominent, life-threatening problem.

He had managed to barely glance at the file Natasha had discretely passed to him. Extremely advanced metabolism. He'd have to use a sedative strong enough for Steve or it'd work out of his system quickly, and that wouldn't be good. He attached a heart moniter and was pleased to hear the steady rate of the teen's heart.

The genius first cleaned the crusty blood away giving him a clear view of the wound. The bullet thankfully didn't hit anything vital so he attached an IV to Peter's forearm and sterilized the entrance wound. He removed the bullet with some practiced ease and with a _clink_ he dropped it into the pan. He stitched it up, weaving together the broken skin then covered it with clean bandages.

He moved onto the teen's head to see it there was any need for immediate attention. As he pushed away the curly brown hair Bruce realized he couldn't do much for it besides let it heal. The wound itself had long since scabbed over and was healing quickly so he didn't bother wrapping it. But he did put some antibiotics around it to prevent infection, that was the last thing the teen needed. It'd probably be painful, he'd get headaches for a bit, and probably make him nauseous. Since the genius couldn't have Peter loosing all the food he gave him Bruce prepared another IV with Steve-level morphine that he could add Granisetron to.

He winced when he remembered the ribs. Glancing back, Bruce realized Peter was painfully thin, Bruce could count his ribs and he hated to say he'd seen this so many times in person. Given that he was imprisoned by a terrorist organization that probably fed him less than a normal human he could be worse. He was already planning a high fat diet. When he pressed down he could feel the bones mending underneath his hands.

Then he noticed the teen's swelling ankle again and a quick X-Ray showed a painful looking hairline fracture in Peter's ankle. Since there was nothing to set the man simply put the small teen's foot in a brace to keep him from moving it.

For the shoulder, which appeared to be one of the first things to heal. He guessed the arm, head, and ankle had been previous injuries. But like the ankle, nothing was broken and it simply needed a sling. He propped the arm and foot up on pillows to make it more comfortable.

Then he noticed his good hand. The genius turned it over saw something unusual. A metal prong going from from inside Peter's wrist to a metal button in his palm. Then it hit the man and he felt like he could face-palm. He pressed down on the button in his palm. Nothing. Must of used his super-strength to activate it. He looked at the other hand and it too had the device- web-shooters- implanted. He couldn't have the kid shooting them with his webbing so he wrapped them in bandages and tied them.

Anger flared inside him- his eyes flashed green and a few viens along his neck did too- when he noticed there were various other scars littered along his body where they'd probably taken tissue sample. From what the files said he was extremely enhanced and it was like a second super solider serum. He guessed they were using abilities found in other animals to create soliders. Therefore, the teen's body was enhanced with what was supposed to be used to make an army.

He did a once over on the teen and was satisfied that there was nothing more he could do for his injuries at the moment. Besides give his body material to heal with, the man covered Peter up with a blanket adjusted the IVs then left to find his teammates who were probably curious. That is if Tony didn't just hack into the cameras and spy on him.

.oO0Oo.

"Peter Parker," Natasha said, looking up from the book in her lap.

"Alright. Let's see what our troublesome teen's life was like before, ya know, HYDRA," Tony muttered typing into the holographic keyboard. The billionaire was sitting besides the others in a spinning chair.

Something came up. 'Parker family tragedy.'

Tony made an 'o' with his mouth and continued digging and up came a SHIELD file.

'Mary and Richard Parker, ex-HYDRA agents worked with a Preston Baines. They were working on a new syrum that could enhance humans with animal characteristics. Richard eventually discovered something was wrong and destroyed his research. He and his wife were planning to take their extra research to SHIELD, they had bought two tickets. They had probably on leaving their son with Ben- Richard's brother- and May Parker. It's believed he was successful but when the house burned down everything was destroyed and all residents killed.'

"Well obviously not," Clint said as he speed read to the end.

Tony snapper his fingers and pointed to Clint. "Exactly, and I bet our guest survived _because_ of his father's research..."

Steve paled. "You aren't saying..."

"We don't know what kind of man Richard was. Plus, this whole things happened eight or so years ago," Tony paused and sat down on the sofas, "Peter may not even remember thanks to HYDRA."

"Actually," Natasha interrupted and she had a small smirk that made Tony stop talking, "their brainwashing wouldn't work on him."

The man whistled. "I knew teenagers were rebellious but that's a whole new level," Tony said. Steve made a sideways glance at Bucky who was listening with just a bit more intensity than before.

"Do they have any pictures of this Preston Baines?" Natasha asked, the memory of when Peter had attack the man in the cell and the look of fear on his face.

"Uh, yeah," Tony swiped at his screen, the holographic image of the man from the cell showed up. Steve, who'd been there, caught on quickly as well. "That poor kid," he breathed.

"Why?" Tony asked suspiciously. "Do you know this guy?"

"He'd come to take Peter away from the cell. But Peter attacked him. You can probably bet that man had a grudge against the kid for what his parents did," Steve explained, then as an afterthought added, "The guy had these weird looking cuffs and looked scared when the cell was unlocked.

"The cell, when locked, probably stops his powers from working. Like a dampener. The cuffs probably had the same technology," Tony theorized spinning in the chair.

"What about the webs? I hope to god those aren't organic," Steve said.

"I didn't get close enough to see his wrists," Tony admitted since he had no explanation. The group lapsed into silence, which was unusual for them.

"But what happens now?" Clint asked, question aimed at no one in particular.

"I think he'll stay here," Bruce said from the doorway. Everyone glanced up from their silent stare offs.

"So?" Clint prompted when Bruce came closer and plopped himself down next to Tony. He looked tired that's for sure.

"He's alive," Bruce offered. "Broken ribs, fractured talus bone in the ankle he has to wear a boot or it could cause damage, torn rotator cuff, concussion-" Bruce continued to list off the injuries until Natasha cut the prattling scientist off. "How is he doing?"

"He's asleep. I have him under sedation and a number of other things to allow his healing factor to have time to work. I don't think he'd stay still for long. He might even try to escape if we leave him alone for too long."

Tony opened his mouth to ask the next question when FRIDAY interrupted. "Dr. Banner, your patient is awakening," the AI alerted.

"What? How? That stuff could keep Cap out for hours," he continued as he ran towards the med-bay others following. Bucky hesitantly followed but at a much slower pace.

.oO0Oo.

The first thing Peter was aware of was the fuzzy feeling covering his entire body, which didn't make sense. His last memory was... What was it? His brain just wasn't cooperating with him. It was muddled and he didn't know what to think about it since he was a few seconds from panicking. He remembered a sound.

A bang. Was he shot? Didn't feel like it. Huh. He should check. Peter pried one of his eyes open- why were they so heavy?- and immediately closed it. Why was it so bright? He tried again, this time successful and gazed to where he was nearly sure he was shot. There was a thick white bandage wrapped over his entire torso. Wait, what?

He raised his eyes, they widened, and the heart monitor showed his suddenly elevated heart rate. Peter didn't know what it was other than it was loud and beeped obnoxiously. But he knew what he was in.

He was in a lab, it wasn't a HYDRA lab for sure but no good ever came out of labs. Wherever he was, whoever had taken him they were experimenting on him; like HYDRA. Sometime during these panicked thoughts he'd begun to tear out the IVs- the burning, sick feeling entering his viens- something off his chest- the electricity tore through him- and he was scooting backwards on the bed- metal tables, knives, tearing skin, blood.- his back hit the wall. The heart moniter was beeping loudly in alarm at him having torn off the receptors and was showing a flat line.

His bad foot felt heavy and so did his chest. The ankle was in a weird contraption so was his arm. There were tight bandages covering the ribs as well. Before he even had a moment to try and get his bearings the door began to rattle and opened.

By the time it did he was on the ceiling and holding his breath. He tried to at least inhale but his panicking lungs weren't obeying and his body was on escape mode.

A man with brown hair and matching eyes that he didn't know entered first. He started looking around for Peter. Then ran to the window which was closed. Wait, a window!

He wad about to make a break for it when four others entered... Four _Avengers_. Black Widow looked straight up at him and said, "Peter, come down. You're going to tear your stitches."

Stitches. So he _was_ shot. That or they cut him open. He shook his head trying to clear the fog in his mind that only made him panic further. What did they do to him? He was still trying to draw a breath, his lungs and ribs hurt.

"Bruce, get me a broom he's having a panic attack on my ceiling," Tony Stark said his voice actually showing some alarm.

"And what's the broom for?" Bruce asked incredulously.

"Did you miss the part where he's on the ceiling?" Tony asked back earning a glare from everyone except the teen, who's brown eyes were darting everywhere, looking for an escape.

Unfortunately Black Widow noticed and said, "FRIDAY, please lock all windows and doors."

His ears picked up a 'click' and there went his escape route. "C'mon, kid," Captain America said, though he barely heard him.

His web-shooters. He looked at his wrists. Even the one in the sling was covered in bandages that went across his palm as well, but they were still there. He could feel them under his skin. The complex knots and wrappings was to keep him from shooting them most likely.

"Crap. Cap, get him down before he shoots us. You saw what he did to those guards," Tony said, was he hiding behind Hawkeye?

Black Widow stepped forwards. "Peter, we aren't going to hurt you. Can you please come back down?" Peter examined her face, looking for any trace of deception and couldn't find any. She look honest, that or she was a good actor. Peter decided to give a minute nod and use his good arm to suspend himself over the floor then landed on one foot.

The moment Peter landed the unidentified man raised his hands where he could see them and came a step closer. "Hey buddy, my name's Bruce. I need to make sure you didn't tear anything, okay?"

Why where they asking? Why were they helping him? He'd killed people, they were supposed to hurt or kill him. He nodded, his body was beginning to hurt from his previous escapades.

The man, Bruce, made sure he could see everything he was doing. Bruce gave a sigh of relief when he saw the messy stitching was intact. He looked the same as before, no worse for wear, just awake this time. When he asked Peter how he felt he didn't say anything. Just gave a small shrug.

Come to think of it, Bruce hadn't seen the small teen speak at all. Bruce's suddenly worried expression caused a bubble of panic to rise in Peter's chest. "Peter, _can_ you speak?"

Peter tilted his head, he was fairly sure he could, but he got hurt if he did. He didn't know these people and it was best to obey them so the teen forced out a croaky, "Yes." Bruce gave a relieved smile. "Good." Peter decided this man wasn't a threat and simply nodded again. His voice hurt his ears.

"Can you lay back down? I want to reconnect the IV. Are you hungry?"

Peter nodded twice. He could and was. The teen hobbled over to the bed, which now that he wasn't panicking he realized wasn't metal. It was soft and so were the pillows. This room didn't smell like the lab did either, this was softer almost. Wasn't as harsh and didn't burn his nose.

With gentle hands Bruce replaced the IV with a sterile one for the pain medicine and left to get food with a 'keep an eye on him and don't let him tear the IV out again'. Which made Peter look downcasted and slightly embarrassed he'd done that in the first place. But whatever was in them was doing its job and the throbbing that had started along his body ceased.

"So Pete," Peter decided he like the fact these people used his name so casually, "how do the webs work?" Tony asked and Steve slapped him upside the head.

Peter wordlessly began taking off the bandages to reveal the device on his bad wrist. Steve paled and Tony leaned forwards, uncomfortably close. "May I?" Tony motioned towards his hand. Peter nodded and Tony took his wrist carefully, given that the arm was hurt, and examined it. He noted the scars and the fact most of it was under his skin. He'd have FRIDAY x-ray his hands to see what they were later.

While that was happening Peter began to become aware of a new presence besides the five he'd met. Peter glanced around until his eyes found a man with shaggy brown hair that came to his shoulders standing in the corner. But it wasn't that which caught his attention, it was the silver metallic arm with the red star that did. A name came to him, 'Winter Solider'.

This time it was Clint that noticed him staring off. "Hey Bucky, get over here." Steve looked up too.

Peter watched warily as the man approached his eyes narrowed in observation. They watched each other, both looking for a threat in the other. Peter had to admit he looked pathetic and he _felt_ pathetic when Bucky turned away with a huff and sat down in one of the chairs.

Bruce finally returned with some rather bland food, a tuna and egg sandwich with a glass of water. The man pulled out a bed table* and set it over Peter's lap then put the food on it.

Peter eyed the food cautiously and picked up the sandwich and took a large bite. Then immediately spat it out in shock at the flavor.

"Bruce, I knew you were a bad cook but wow. Sammy's coming by next week, until then stay out," Tony said with a slight head shake.

Peter took a smaller less cautious bite and it wasn't bad. It was... Flavorful, which he liked. Bruce gave a small smile at Peter.

"So Peter," the named teen looked up, "my name's Natasha and that's Clint. Those four are Bucky, Tony, Steve and Bruce."

"Peter," the teen meekly offered. He was taken slightly aback when they started laughing.

"Sir," the AI interrupted, "Nick Fury is in the building. Shall I direct him to you?"

.oO0Oo.

 _*Can't remember what they're called._

 _Happy Mother's Day!_

 _Word: 2,800_

.oO0Oo.

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed!_

~ _Reviews~_

 _BlueHeart007: Ty!_

 _ALonesomeAuthor: I'm glad you enjoy it!_

 _Nikoladerondale: Absolutely!_

 _lil cometz: Thank you for the compliment. Omg XD *Ded*_

 _Pm I can't see:_

 _Amaxe: Tones was a nickname XD My tablet said that chapter's reading time was 20 minutes so take your time, it took me nearly all week to write that it. I almost split it into two. I might do Beta eventually and tysm for the advice :D I use the ff app so I don't know if that's why I didn't get your pm on there. I actually only saw it thanks to my Email._


	7. Chapter 7

**[Warnings! Gore sorry.]**

 **The Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part Two**

 **Chapter- 7**

"Sir, Nick Fury is in the building. Shall I direct him to you?" the AI interrupted making Peter jump and look up at the ceiling. It sounded like the female voice he'd heard in the HYDRA facility. Was there an invisible Avenger? HYDRA surely would have known about that.

"Might as well. Son of a bitch will just hunt us down like the one-eyed blood hound he is," Tony said up to the ceiling while rolling his eyes. He almost patted the teen's shoulder but paused and took his hand away. "I'll go delay our resident pirate for a bit."

Natasha simply looked annoyed and followed. "You have maybe fifteen minutes."

They heard Tony yell in a terrible British accent- you'd think having Vision and JARVIS would've helped- from somewhere in the building, "OI PIRATE MAN!" Peter winced at the yelling then winced internally when his shoulder gave a sharp twinge.

"Make that five," and she was gone in a flash of red hair and black leather.

Peter went to finish his sandwich quickly but stopped when Bruce interrupted, "Peter, don't choke yourself. Fury isn't too bad and _can_ wait until you're done." Peter continued, but at a considerably slower pace. He wouldn't disobey them until he could get away...

"The voice was the AI, FRIDAY. Tony has her programmed into the entire tower and his suits too," Clint said, having noticed his jump. Peter made an 'o' with his mouth and nodded silently. That made sense actually.

"So Pete..." The blonde haired man continued talking with the teen to fill the time. It was mostly one-sided unless Clint asked a direct question, but he was more than capable of holding the conversation. Bruce started reading and Bucky sat in the corner, watching.

"Hawkeye, Nick Fury is headed this way," the AI said.

"Wow, Tony must've really annoyed the guy," Clint said sounding... Well, not surprised.

.oO0Oo.

Nick Fury was sitting in the main room when he heard Tony's yell. He rolled his eye and stood to greet them.

Tony raced in and Natasha was speedily following behind. "Take me to him." Was all he said, deciding to ignore Tony entirely.

"We'll let you see him when he's at least a little bit healthier," Tony said, earning an elbow from Natasha.

"Stark, he is a criminal. I don't care if he's on his death-bed I need to talk to him. This is a matter of the security of the people of New York and more," Fury said as he began walking towards the infirmary thanks to Tony's comment.

Natasha stopped him by stepping in the doorway. "No. Director, you really don't understand. Can we just explain something?"

Fury pushed past the two and turned to face them. "What could possibly be so important that you are trying to stall me? Do you know how dangerous he is? I imagine _you_ do."

 _Okay_ , Tony thought, _that hurt_.

The man rolled his eye and continued, all attempts to stop him proven useless. They approached the medbay and the door silently whooshed open.

There in one of the beds was a teen who could not be more than fourteen. Nick Fury took in the bruised face, slung arm, braced foot which peeked out from under the blanket, and wrapped torso. He was holding half a sandwich in his good hand which was no longer wrapped and Fury could barely make out a glint of metal.

He was a kid. Fury shot a harsh look to the brunette man at his side. There was always the possibility their culprit was young, but it hadn't been _likely._

The boy had a blank face but his eyes were flicking to everyone then settled on him. Clint was on the teen's other side talking one-sidedly with Peter, and facing away from the door. He probably hadn't even noticed Fury's arrival before so he decided to make his presence known.

"Agent Barton," Fury greeted.

"Fury," Clint said not looking back. Truthfully he'd seen the reflection on one of the expensive and shiny machines that were hooked up to the teen. Bruce gave a weak wave and went back to reading. Tony and Natasha entered seconds after and walked past Fury to the teen's bedside.

Switching back to business mode Fury gave a short nod of approval at the fact they'd at least saved the kid and hadn't broken him. "As you know he's dangerous. I'll need all of the available information on him. Even if we're not logging him into our systems yet."

Clint got up and handed the HYDRA folders over with their own bits of information they'd gathered added in. It was in a folder that was several inches thick.

Fury took it and flipped through a few pages as if checking they were all there. He glimpsed the name of the teen, Peter Parker, then closed it with a 'snap'.

"I'll need you all to debrief as soon as we clear up one other problem. And now we come to the problem of where to put him," he glanced at Peter. "Let's discuss this outside," he motioned towards the door. They nodded and Bruce stayed with Peter in the room.

"FRI, activate white noise," at the confused glances Tony elaborated, "Our guest have enhanced senses so it's to keep peeping ears back there from listening."

"I'm afraid SHIELD _may_ be compromised by HYDRA," Fury started.

A collective 'what' and some other choice words sounded through the hallway in various levels of shock or disbelief.

"So where are you going to stick short-stack here?" Tony asked pointing to the door. "You can't be telling me you don't have _some_ place to-"

"To put Peter somewhere he needs to be registered into the SHIELD systems. If HYDRA is inside SHIELD they'll find out where we're keeping him he'll just end right back up in their hands," Fury said.

"Why don't we keep him here," a deep voice said. The hall was instantly silenced and Tony whipped around to face Bucky. "What?"

"I agree," Clint said, backing up the Winter Soldier. Clint had always been sympathetic to due to his own experience with mind control. If Bucky was thankful he didn't show it outwardly.

Natasha also nodded her approval. Clint said, "I agree. Plus we can observe him here easily."

Tony threw his hands up as if he couldn't believe they were all agreeing on something. Then he raised his hand

"As you know there will be rules for now until something can be figured out. The Avengers can't pause their duties to babysit," he warned.

Tony interrupted first. "Okay, ignoring the fact you said 'duties', what kind of rules? And there's six, sometimes more, of us. We're more than capable of watching a kid."

"You probably could watch a regular kid, but he isn't one. He's a solider, a weapon, and more than likely modified for combat," Fury said shortly.

"But he's still exactly that. A child," Natasha stated, her voice almost dangerously low.

Fury gave a her a look showing he didn't believe her. But he wasn't going to argue further. "I do have some rules for if you're going to be keeping him here. We can discuss those with him."

The group went back in to see Peter laying down and staring at the walls like they'd offended him. In actuality the white noise made his ears feel fuzzy and him tired. When it cancelled he turned his attention back to the new person who he rightly guessed was this Nick Fury FRIDAY announced the arrival of.

"I am Director Nick Fury," Fury said. Peter just nodded, given that he'd already guessed that. "You will be staying here until further notice. Understand?" A meek nod. "You and the Avengers will have rules to monitor you and ensure the safety of the people of New York."

Rules? He could follow rules.

"If you don't follow the rules and something bad happens I will be forced to take you into SHIELD. Do you want that?"

"No," Peter said while shaking his head, he hated that he sounded and probably looked like a child.

"Hey kid, they'll probably just be easy," Clint comforted. Or, well, tried to. Peter just stared at Fury, unblinking, waiting for the man to continue.

"First, let no one outside us and Agent Coulson know we have him. As far as the rest of SHIELD knows the Hunting Spider incident was a one time thing. As such, he is not allowed outside the tower," Fury started.

"So is he just never allowed to leave the Tower, Fury? That's a bad idea, I know he's dangerous but he's still a teenager. And one who's under the Avengers watch," Tony said.

"At least let me finish, Stark!" He snapped at the billionaire. This led to a glaring standoff until Fury broke it with a sigh. "Keeping him away from public eye is important for now. Peter Parker has been declared dead for nearly a decade. If he shows up with the same name someone else will notice and then HYDRA will. And he may only be here temporarily, depending on when we can get SHIELD under control and can find him a place to live."

"What are you going to do? Put him in some stranger's family or lock him up?" Tony asked.

"If it comes to that," he said. "It all depends on what happens and whether Peter's safe enough for regular humans to be around. Second, and this is mostly for you Peter, don't cause trouble. Need I go further?"

Peter shook his head. He'd have to be careful.

"Good. Third, I want to know everything you find out about him. That's all for now. I'll contact you all later and check up with you. Send me your debriefing by tomorrow," he said already walking towards the door.

The room stayed silent for a minute while Peter tried to take in _what_ just happened. Tony clapped making Peter jump.

"Alright. It's late- no. It's early. You know what, let's just get to bed."

A few of them ended up just staying in the medbay that night- or day. Though none of them would directly admit it, they wanted to stay nearby in case Peter needed something and so that the teen didn't have a chance to panic.

It was long past five in the morning by the time they all settled down and eventually drifted off to sleep. The sun had risen and the Avenger's alarm had remained thankfully silent allowing them and their guest to sleep peacefully. Tony had FRIDAY black out the windows and told her to not disturb them unless it was life and death, robots, or aliens. Then he went to his room most of the others following his example, leaving Bucky, Steve, and Bruce behind.

.oO0Oo.

 _Peter's cell was cold... No, that wasn't the right word. This was a bone deep chill that would linger and make you feel as if you were made of ice. He was in the cell huddled against the wall shivering. Even if he wanted he couldn't sleep. There was a constant throbbing coming from... Everywhere. They'd taken samples again that day. It was a cruel cycle of pain, relief, repeat._

 _For how long? He didn't now. He'd lost count of the days... A week... Month maybe? Possibly longer._

 _He'd long since given up the hope that **someone** , **anyone** would come for him. He had no one else. No one would notice if Peter Parker dissapeared. And no one did. He was still here as proof of that **fact**. Peter Parker wasn't important enough, and he would never be remembered._

 _There was a metal **ban** **g**! From down the hall as they collected a new prisoner for experimemts. He guessed they wouldn't be back for a while now, at least. He shifted and a flare of fire raced through his back where they'd done a spinal tap. He didn't think he'd be able to move well for hours._

 _He was still bleeding from several contusions all over his small body, so he was laying in a slowly growing puddle of his own blood. His eyes were beginning to get heavy and his blinks sluggish._

 _He had no idea when he fell asleep but he remembered waking up. It was done so in a way that his senses returned to him all at once and he jolted up. He was soaking wet in ice cold water which made his teeth chatter together._

 _"Steh auf!" The man commanded motioning for him to stand with a now empty bucket. Still gasping Peter just barely managed to stand. Another came forwards and grabbed his arms._

 _They marched the bleeding child to **that** room. The one where the experiments happened. He feebly struggled and received a smack to the head._

 _The too strong antiseptics burned his nose when the door swung open. Besides the bed on the tray were two gun metal colored devices. He was led over then strapped down. His hands, palm up, were placed where they could reach them easily and were put where he had no movement whatsoever. There was a now familiar snap of rubber gloves then masked people stepped into view._

 _"Experiment SM68 is ready to receive the prototypes," the one he recognized said as he picked up the scalpel._

 _He sliced through his wrist skin, exposing muscle and other tissue. They dabbed away the crimson liquid before it fell. Peter whimpered as he felt moving his muscle being moved aside and out of place. Between the blinding pain he felt something freezing cold being slid inside arm._

 _Then they did it again for his other._

 _Repeat._

.oO0Oo.

Peter shot up in his medical bed in a cold sweat. He gasped for breath and clutching his wrists to his chest. They throbbed with phantom pains that the nightmares always brought. He glanced around confused. He was here... With these strange people. Not there... Not... Alone.

Steve and Bucky, the ones closest and most sensitive, woke up in time to watch Peter dazedly take in his surroundings now that he wasn't panicking.

He managed to prop himself up in his bed taking care not to disturb his broken ribs too badly or Bruce's feet that were propped up at the very end. The genius himself was slumped in a chair, asleep for once. The only sound was soft snores from to brunette.

"Kid?" Peter's head shot up to face Steve, Captain America, who was sitting on his left side.

His quiet voice whispered back, "Yeah?"

This time Bucky asked the question, "Are you okay?"

The question made him pause for two reasons. One, it was Bucky asking. Second, he had no clue how to answer. So after gaping like a goldfish for a minute, he settled for shrugging.

"How do you feel?" Bucky asked after a moment of silence that was penetrated by snores.

"Tired," he stated.

A huff then pause. "Wanna talk about the nightmare? It helps sometimes."

"It was about when I had the web-shooters implanted," his quiet voice said. He flexed his hand, comforted by the muscle rubbing against metal. His opinion on the devices had changed vastly since he got them. He could hardly remember a time before they put them in. They'd saved his life a number of times and now they felt like a security blanket rather than a weapon.

"When _did_ that happen?" Steve asked. He was moderately curious about the time frame what this kid had been through.

The two men could just make out the teen frowning in concentration. They remembered he still had strong painkillers in his system, probably muddling his brain. "Early..."

"Do you remember it?" Steve asked, his facial expression clearly showed he hoped Peter didn't remember. The teen shook his head but stopped with only a slight wince. It was a far cry from earlier when he didn't dare moving his arm. His healing factor appeared to be trying its hardest to knit his body back together while he was asleep.

Bucky watched Peter for a second decided against confronting the teen on his lie. "Anything else?" No answer. There wasn't anything they could do for him so why did they care so much? The question irritated him so much he wanted to pull his hair out because he just didn't understand.

"Alright," Steve interrupted his thoughts, "you get to sleep and wake us if you need anything," Steve said and patted Peter's knee.

He lay back down and watched as Bucky and Steve drifted off again and sighed silently. If he was going to be stuck here at least he was stuck with them and not SHIELD. He laid back down in his bed and drifted to dreamless sleep, feeling safe for the first time in a long while.

At least for now.

oO0Oo.

 _Thank you to MonsterSlayer for correcting the German since I am not fluent... At all._

 _Word count: 2,800_

.oO0Oo.

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed! Duuuuudes over 100 Likes! Tyasm! This right here made me so happy when we crossed past 100! And we almost have 100 favorites as well! Highlight of this week._ _~Reviews~_

 _Sherlockian445: Ty!_

 _lil cometz: XD_

 _ALonesomeAuthor: *Covers plot with hands.* Merp. Let me just say... I have a lot planned for Bucky. *Knowing author laugh that turns into a cough.*_

 _Nikolaherondale: Ikr poor Spideyyy_

 _MagicWarriorDragon: I usually update this book twice weekly because it's currently my favorite :) I love Peter jumping onto the ceilings too because it's such an arachnid thing to do. Broom comment was my favorite and I could totally see it happening. It was actually in the original dialogue I made for this chapter XD!_


	8. Chapter 8

**[Warning. Blood and really bad science puns.]**

 **Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part Two**

 **Chapter 8**

Peter poked his bruised cheek in the mirror and winced. He looked like a mottled being with brown hair that was various shades of yellow, green, and purple. They'd allowed him to take a warm shower in the medbay to get the rest of the grime off. His eyes were brown, his hair was a lighter color than that and just short of his shoulders. He was currently wearing Bruce's clothes since he was the smallest. He'd allowed Bruce- he decided he somewhat trusted the usually quiet man- to put a water-proof plastic bandages over his stitches and they crinkled every time he moved.

"Peter, you've been in there for a half hour with the water off. Can you come out?" Bruce called from outside.

Peter nodded, though pointless given that Bruce couldn't see him so he verbally confirmed, "Yeah." He opened the door and Bruce gave a snort of amusement at the clothes which pooled around the underweight teen's feet. The shirt went down to above his knees, the shirt also had a science pun (I make horrible science jokes, but only periodically) plastered across the chest.

Peter tilted his head in confusion at him, Bruce smiled at the puppy dog gesture. "I need to check on your injuries and we need to find you a room to stay in," Bruce said as he picked up a clipboard and started jotting things down.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"Well you can't stay in the medbay the entire time you're here," Bruce motioned for him to sit on the examination table- which was not metal.

"Why not?" Peter complied with his request and pulled himself up. It was fine here. He didn't think he'd be staying long enough to warrant an actual room.

Bruce started taking off the water-proof plastic to access the wound. "Because, Pete, this isn't a place for you to stay. You need room for your stuff."

"What stuff?" Peter asked. He didn't have anything.

"I can take the stitches out already it seems," he mumbled, mostly to himself while grabbing a pair of medical scissors and tweezers. "You'll be getting stuff, like clothes and other important things. You can't always wear our stuff. It's too big for you."

"Sorry."

"It not your fault, Peter, you need these things either way," he cut the knot on one end of the stitching. "This is going to hurt okay? Just tell me if you need me to stop." He grabbed the uncut end with the tweezers and pulled it slowly as to not tear the newly healed skin. To Peter's credit he didn't wince or flinch. He'd had to remove stitches multiple times because the doctors forgot to and they became itchy.

"There. Okay, it looks good. You're healing much faster than yesterday. Your ankle is fully healed just from overnight. And your shoulder may be sore for a while," Bruce rambled, Peter just nodding along.

"Where am I staying?" Peter asked suddenly.

"Steve and Bucky's floor, they offered before Tony finished saying 'he can't stay in the medbay forever'. Let's go now and get you settled in."

Peter nodded and stood again, thankful he only felt a twinge of pain from his not-entirely-healed ribs. Bruce opened the medbay door and Peter stayed behind him, he had his head down and he kept pace with the man silently.

They finally reached the elevator and Peter eyed it warily. Bruce held the door open and motioned for him to enter it.

"What floor?" The AI asked.

"Steve and Bucky's floor please," the man said leaning back against the wall. Peter mirrored the action using the opposite wall.

The elevator halted making Peter grab the handle bars. And look around. Where they stuck? Was it just him or was this elevator really sma-

'DING!' Was the cheerful sound he heard and then the doors slid open. He decided he did _not_ like the elevators.

The door opened to a hallway. The walls were painted with warm colors and there were multiple black and white photos hanging from the wall. Even from a distance he noticed the skill which they were taken. In most of them the posers never noticed that they were posing and were caught mid-laugh.

"Like the photos?" Peter looked up and noticed Steve and Bucky standing to greet Peter. He hadn't noticed them there and he nodded. Bucky seemed captivated with a picture of a man who looked identical to him in it. Bucky Barnes is the Winter Solider, his HYDRA knowledge supplied.

Steve suddenly snapped his fingers in front of Peter and did the same to Bucky. "C'mon, Buck, we need to show the kid to his room."

"Right," he said turning back. "Follow me. Your room will be close to our's, just in case you need anything.

They led him to one of the plain doors and stopped.

"That one is Bucky's, and the other one's mine. This one however, is yours," Steve said and he opened the door.

"We can probably get Tony to allow you to decorate it however you want," Steve said.

"Wow," was all Peter could say. The room was huge.

"You have a bathroom through the door on the left and your closet to the right. Got it?" A nod. "Just yell or ask FRIDAY if you need anything. Okay? I'll come get you for dinner. But try and get some rest."

Steve waved and Bucky followed him out.

"Bye," his whisper barely audible. He didn't like being trapped here... In this room. But he _was_ tired. He looked to the bed enviously before giving in and walking over, it was big and the blankets were comfortable. He got in and curled under the blanket he was out a few moments later.

He felt like he was suffocating. They'd done that to him once. Waited until his lungs were filled with water then brought him out and forced him to start breathing again. They couldn't even allow him to die.

He woke up suddenly and was breathing in gasps while he flailed around. Getting himself hopelessly entangled in the blankets. With one strong pull he flung himself off the bed and he hit the floor hard. With a groan he pulled himself up, hit him sharply him from the ribs and back.

Then he blinked rapidly to clear the spots from his vision. His thoughts were between the here and there at that place. When he opened his eyes he saw the Avenger's Tower, when they were closed he saw his cell. Or the experiment room. He didn't know what to believe. He did know one thing though...

He needed out of this place. It was only a matter of time until they saw him for what he was, not even fully human. But Natasha and Tony had made sure that the windows stayed locked and closed. As of yet he'd only seen most of the main floor (mainly the medbay) and Bucky's floor.

He'd escaped HYDRA and now he was trapped, again. It didn't matter how large it was it was just a slightly better prison. One that fed him and didn't hurt him. They'd defended him against Fury and HYDRA and said they'd take care of him... But what happens when they get tired of him? Or if he didn't obey?

They'd send him to SHIELD and he'd be just another science experiment in a cell. The thought made him panicky as he continued running before he knew what he was doing. He jumped up and began speed crawling on the ceiling, away from his room and towards the elevator.

"Hello, Mr. Parker. You appear to have an elevated heart rate and you're breathing heavier than normal and borderlining hyperventilation. Would you like me to contact Sir or Mr. Banner?" The AI asked.

"N-no. P-please no," he managed to say between gasps. "C-can you take me up to the roof?"

"No, Mr. Parker. You are only allowed on a few select floors without supervision or permission."

"I-is anyone on the m-main floor right n-now?" Peter asked.

"No, Mr. Parker. But I suggest you calm down," the AI suggested.

"T-take me there," Peter said ignoring how the elevator walls seemed to be approaching as the doors slid shut. Leaving him... Trapped. Peter squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

The door opened, after what felt like a century, and he raced out. His feet were impossibly loud. Even though he was skilled at running quietly and quickly. He raced through the empty halls towards the main room. The elevators were useless. He wouldn't even bother with the stairs. It was very doubtful the Avengers would allow him out. The windows were locked...

The windows. He walked over to the ceiling to floor window that overlooked the city. He unraveled the bandages on his scarred wrists to uncover the web-shooters. Then he reared his fist back and punched the glass leaving a spider-web crack growing from where his fist impacted it. Then he did it again.

.oO0Oo.

Tony Stark was in the lab, quite a common sight, no matter where they were. He was trying to rewire one of his hand repulsers that were simply refusing to work. Bruce was... Bruce was asleep, slouched over his desk and work. So Tony was taking care to be extra quiet so his science bro could sleep. And it was going relatively well until...

"Sir, Mr. Parker is showing an elevated heart rate, he appears to be having a panic attack, and acting dangerously," FRIDAY alerted. Bruce sat up so quickly he nearly threw himself out of his chair.

"Wha's 'appenin'?" Bruce slurred with a yawn.

"I'll explain in just a sec Brucie. FRI, contact the others! I'll meet them there," with that Tony Stark raced away to the elevator dragging Bruce behind.

.oO0Oo.

The tempered glass finally gave way and caved under his next fist. His hands were oozing blood and his knuckles were cracked and throbbing, his arms were scraped up as well but not to the same intensity. But he didn't care. He started to try and make the hole big enough for him to crawl through to escape.

He heard footsteps from behind him, indistinct yelling, and suddenly there were four arms restraining him. For a couple moments it was unclear who would win given that the teen seemed just short of screaming his head off until they released him. He kicked and tried to punch until his energy began leaving him. When he finally stopped he opened his eyes and realized it Steve who was holding him down.

He- he wasn't there.

"Come on Peter, you need to breath," came a panicked voice. Tony, he realized.

So Peter took in a gasping breath and the spots in his vision faded away. He vaguely heard Bruce saying he needed to be moved to the infirmary.

Steve and Bucky supported him, he was so dazed he didn't notice they'd even gone in the elevator until they exited it. As soon as Peter saw the medbay- lab- he started fighting again.

He heard someone saying they may have to sedate him just enough to be able to work on his injuries. He felt something prick in his arm. A cool sensation rushed through his body and his strength faded and his mind stopped racing and he could breath normally.

Then he jolted back, but his mind far more clouded and confused. Peter continued to struggle in the man's arms. Not enough to actually escape- he didn't have enough energy for that- just enough to make it difficult for whoever was holding him down to hurt him.

"Peter," someone grunted as he adjusted the teen for the millionth time, "stop struggling." _Wait, what?_

 _They_ didn't call him Peter. The teen's panicked eyes shot open again. Tony and Bruce were in front of him, cleaning his knuckles and arms of glass from the windows. Steve along with the help of Bucky were holding the teen still and upright.

 _He wasn't there. He wasn't there._ He chanted over and over inside his head.

Panting heavily Peter stopped and let his head drop to his chest in exhaustion. His shaggy brown hair fell over his face, effectively hiding it from view. They all exchanged a worried look as Tony and Bruce finished up wrapping his hands entirely.

Someone approached Peter from his left side. "Child, why'd you try to run?" A female voice- Natasha- asked as she brushed away a loose curl to better see his face.

The teen had no idea why they wanted him to stay. It didn't matter because they didn't actually care about him so it didn't matter. Peter Parker wouldn't be their problem for long. He shrugged.

"Nuh-uh. Not gonna cut it, spider-kid," came the usually sarcastic voice of Tony. Now though, his voice was serious and leaving little room for stalling.

"I want out of here," he whispered so quietly even Steve almost missed it.

But he didn't. "Why's that, Pete?"

"I can't breath," he continued.

"And why's that kid?" Tony said quietly, a little more gentle this time.

"This- it's- This is just a different prison. It-it's too small, the walls suffocate me," he said, his seemed to be just seconds away from panic. He felt like the walls were crushing him, but it was just Bucky who was sitting on one side and Steve on the other.

"Oh," a voice, definitely Bruce's, as he figured it out. "Oh, Peter..."

"What?" Asked Steve from behind him. The man wasn't holding him still anymore on the medbay but he was rubbing circles on the teen's back at the teen slouched on Bucky's side. Peter almost found it comforting, except he couldn't. It was like his mind was lagging from his body. Which, was safe and warm, but his mind was still there. In that tiny cell. With the cold seeping into his bones-

"Can I talk with the rest of you outside," Bruce said, "Steve, Bucky, you two stay here and try to keep him calm and make sure he doesn't escape."

.oO0Oo.

They followed the genius outside the door and a couple feet away. "FRIDAY, can you play some white noise?"

"Yes, Mr. Banner," the AI said.

"Claustrophobia. Why didn't I think of this before?" Bruce said, and started pacing. "He was stuck in a small cell for eight and a half years. Of course he would be afraid of being trapped."

"Whoa, Bruce, calm down," Tony said, stopping the man with his arm. "What's going on?" Clint asked, he'd lost the point of the doctor's ramblings.

"He's afraid of the Tower and being trapped. It's like what aliens and space are for you, Tony," Bruce said. Tony went rigid then nodded. He hadn't had a very pleasant experience- no, it was a horrible experience. But since when were those kinds of things remotely pleasant. His experience continually haunted his nightmares. This kid's hadn't had a good one either. Heck, the kid's entire life had been hell. Suddenly sober with understanding, Tony only nodded.

"What now?" Natasha asked. "He's going to have to stay here whether he likes it or not. And this will be a lot more pleasant if he somewhat trusts us and isn't afraid of every thing we do."

"Hm... Like you said, this will be a lot nicer of an experience for all of us if he doesn't fight us at every turn," Bruce said then paused, his brown eyes lit up. "I have an idea."

.oO0Oo.

When the door opened again Peter was still sitting inbetween Steve and Bucky. A far cry from earlier when he was being held down by them. He seemed calmer, or maybe he was just exhausted. In fact he was slumped against Bucky's side. Panicking and punching through bullet proof glass wasn't an easy feat. The teen's eyes were just beginning to droop as the repercussions of his actions began to catch up with him.

It surprised Bruce that Peter trusted the man as much as he did. The man approached taking care to make enough noise he was heard. "Peter, can you look at me?"

Peter lifted his head to the man but refused to raise his eyes. Bruce took the teen's chin. Ignoring him recoiling at his touch, and forced the teen to look into his eyes. And hopefully he would see the truth in the genius' words.

"Peter, the Tower is not a prison. The walls are not closing around you and we will never hurt you, I promise. You can go wherever you wish alone, inside. But-"

"I _need out_ ," Peter repeated and gave a weak squirm to try and struggle away. Bruce was in no was stronger than Peter, only Steve and Bucky had been able to restrain him safely before he managed to accidentally stab himself with glass in his attempt to run. But the teen didn't seem to put any effort into the action or he would have been able to get out of Bruce's hold. Bruce held his ground as he tried to reason with the teen. "And why do you even care?" Peter spat out, his previous anger was returning.

"Why else do you think you're still here? Because you needed help, you still do. And we want to help in any way we can."

Peter felt his eyes wander to the rest of them. They all nodded in confirmation, including Bucky and Steve. Tony didn't look like he usually did. More like the eccentric man was more subdued.

"Tony," Bruce said, catching the attention of the teen who was holding onto every word said. The genius was finally enacting his plan, "The Tower is one of the highest buildings in this area right?"

"Yeah, but what's it to ya?"

"We can take him up to the roof and no one will see or be able to make him out," Bruce finished. "There's also no buildings tall enough he'd be able to escape before we could catch him." Tony opened his mouth and the other brunette raised a hand. "Trust goes both ways Tony. If we want him to trust us, which would be better for all of us, we need to show him a little trust."

Tony's mouth shut with an audible 'click' and he turned to Peter. "Big guy is giving you a chance here, okay?"

Peter nodded.

"Don't blow it. Hey, when can we let him walk?" Tony asked. He turned his attention to Steve and Bucky who were both still picking the glass out of the teen's mauled arms. Bruce joined him on Steve's side.

"Let me just get some antibiotics on the cuts then just make sure he doesn't rip the larger ones open again by moving too much," he said as he walked over to a set of stainless steel drawers and pulled out a tube and bandaids. He put the cream on the larger cuts along with the bandaids then declared Peter fit to go.

They walked down the same hall and to the same elevator. "Roof," Tony said. "Also, kid, you are _not_ allowed to go up without one of us here. Got that FRI?"

"Yes, sir."

"Y-yes, Mr. Stark."

"Nuh uh. We are so *not* doing this 'Mr. Stark' crap, okay? Mr. Stark was the name my father used, my name's Tony," the man snapped.

Fear flashed over the teen's face then he nodded submissively, and Tony internally winced. He hadn't meant to scare the kid.

This ride had to be the longest Peter had been on. After a few minutes the elevator jerked to a stop. Peter reflexively gripped the wall, no matter how many times he rode on it he'd probably never get used to it.

Bucky put his flesh hand on Peter's shoulder as the doors opened. It was somehow symbolic given that his human arm wasn't as strong as the metal one.

They stepped out and Peter looked awestruck. The sun was beginning to fall behind the numerous tall buildings. Allowing them a dazzling, but smog muddled, sunset.

Peter's hazel brown eyes were bright and happy as he rapidly took in the surroundings and tried to absorb everything about it. His curly brown hair was constantly whipping around his face and in his eyes so he was also always brushing it away.

He looked like an entirely different teenager, a normal one, Bucky observed. The man led them both to the edge. The others joined them on the sides; looking out over the city of New York.

"So kid," Bucky started, "if you give them a chance they can help you. They're not too bad and the team helped me. They can even give you a relatively normal life if that's what you'd like," the man paused. Peter was watching him intently, holding onto every word and looking for hidden deceit behind them but found none. "So... What do you say? Can you give them a chance to try and prove themselves?"

The teen leaned further against the concrete railing, he propped his elbows on it. He gave a small sigh, taking in the filthy air, which he didn't mind. He didn't want to leave or escape, he felt... _Content_ and somehow _safe_ here. With all them, this severely dysfunctional family. But they wanted to help him... Could he allow it? Allow them a chance?

"Yeah, I think I can do that."

.oO0Oo.

 _How's that for an ending?? :') And Peter's personality is starting to form and grow. He's noticing smaller things about the other Avengers. That's one of my favorite science jokes. They're all freaking hilarious tho. (What do you call acid with an attitude? "A-mean-o acid." *Dying*)_

 _Word: 3,500_

.oO0Oo.

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed!_

 _~Reviews~_

 _TheRealMasonMac: You will, I promise. This fic will have Tony and Peter fluff. I also already plan on having a fluffy little fic completely dedicated to Tony being Peter's dad. (Do I kill May too often? Yeah. Do I care? No...)_

 _lil cometz: XD Thanks_ _:D_

 _PhantomGoat13: Duuuuude. Tysm_

 _MonsterSlayer: Ah ty! I do not know German. Like, at all. I know some French tho, which is not relevant whatsoever._

 _BlueHeart007: Ty_

 _kittymyth96: Oh my gosh you're so sweet. I promise it's nothing too bad :D. I also blame it partly on the fact I'm a lazy little shit. I'm back to normal now tho, it stopped eventually._


	9. Chapter 9

**[!Nightmare warnings! As always if you have any one-shots or any ideas pm or comment :D)**

 **Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part Two**

 **Chapter 9**

It only took a couple days for all of the Avengers to come to the same conclusion. Natasha had been the first to notice, Bucky following, then the others like dominoes.

A hours after the whole 'escape' fiasco, they brought the emotionally exhausted teenager down for dinner. Since the teen's weight was still one of Bruce's main concerns they wouldn't let him sleep off the events of the day until he ate, as it was for his own health.

They had all decided against fast food due to the fact it was usually strong in taste and Peter didn't seem to handle flavors well, yet. He tended to spit out anything he didn't like or was too exotic for him. More often than not it was the second.

The others had volunteered to cook even though it was nearly midnight at first but then Tony and Bruce ended up in a squabble. Tony reminded Bruce he wasn't allowed in the kitchen after he got carried away and created radioactive pancakes and gave a few of them minor radiation poisoning. How he managed to make that happened, none of them really know.

Then Bruce retaliated and shot back that someone named Pepper had grounded him from the kitchen as well. ("You catch _one_ kitchen on fire and they never let you live it down!") So then, they continued arguing (which was considerably dangerous). Until Steve finally stopped them by throwing them out to start cooking. Clint joined him a few seconds later to give him pointers on what children ate for later references.

He'd kept his head down as they had all walked, or marched as Peter probably saw it, to the kitchen. The teen stood quietly on the corner waiting for... Something. They'd seemed confused until Natasha offered to let him help set the table if he wanted. He seemed all too relieved to be able to do something while Steve was cooking.

Natasha got silverware, Tony grabbed silverware, Peter got plates, while Bruce and Bucky supervised or grabbed anything the others couldn't. It was so... Normal. Like a family would work together.

Peter had a ghost of a smile as he looked at the scene that not many outside the Avengers had ever seen before. It faded as he remembered the last time he'd ever done this...

The teen shook his head, trying to clear it and prevent a flashback which would turn into a full-blown attack. Thankfully it didn't and he managed to ward it off. Bucky, who was watching Peter carefully noticed and took the plates from him. The older made Peter to sit. Opting to ignore the other's confused stares he sat on Peter's left.

The table was quickly finished being set thanks to the efforts of Natasha who snapped back and went back to finish setting the table. With the combined efforts of Bruce, Tony, and Natasha it didn't take long. Dinner still wasn't ready yet and a few of them who finished either took seats- like Natasha who sat on Peter's other side- or walked off to wait. The teen kept his head low and fiddled with his fingers in well restrained impatience.

"Hey, kid. You don't have to keep your head down, can't be good for your neck," Bucky said patting Peter's leg with his regular hand.

Peter raised his head, glancing anywhere but Bucky's eyes, but managed a shaky laugh and smile. "Guess you're right."

"Wanna talk about it?" Bucky asked, they both knew about what.

The teenager's expression fell a million miles and his eyes turned back to his hands in his lap. Bucky knew from experience it wasn't good to keep emotions bottled up inside. Eventually the pressure would be too much and you'd explode.

"No," Peter whispered as he glanced suspiciously at Natasha who was watching them. Bucky put a hand on his shoulder, expecting him to immediately flinch away, but he didn't. Instead he ever so slightly leaned into the contact.

Finally Steve and Clint brought platters and bowls of food. Mashed potatoes, gravy, chicken, and some high protein vegetables to help balance the greasy meal out. The next thing was quite expected. He didn't ask for any food and seemed shocked when a loaded plate was placed in front of him courtesy of Natasha. His stomach growled and the red haired woman gave him a thin smile which he tried returning. But it may have come out as more of a wince than anything.

Peter hardly tasted it as he ate and finished in record time that could give Steve or Thor a spin for their money. It was one of his habits, he ate quickly because a) it was taken away or b) he tasted the near vile slop. But after his plate was clear, he made no move to refill it.

Finally Bucky noticed Peter was staring at the food with his fingers twitching like he couldn't decide if he wanted to chance getting more food. The shaggy haired man picked up Peter's plate and piled it high.

He finished this plate slowly, now that his stomach wasn't starving. This time he was actually tasting the food and quickly formed opinions on them. He didn't really like the potatoes as much since they resembled the 'food'- if you could call it that- he was given at that place, but he wasn't going to say it. Instead he settled for pushing it around to make it look eaten. He did like the other things on his plate like the fried chicken and the broccoli and green beans.

Steve was a really great cook that much was for sure and growing up during the Great Depression probably helped him be resorceful and to make stuff taste good. The others seemed to agree as well and they shot Steve surprised looks when they thought the blonde wasn't looking.

Peter finished shortly after everyone else was done and watched as Clint and Natasha picked up their own dishes them took them to the sink. Peter was about to follow the example when Steve swooped in and collected Peter and Bucky's plates for them. The teenager watched as they scraped off whatever food was left and put the dishes into the dishwasher.

Suddenly, Tony clapped loudly, making Peter jump then eye the genius warily. "How about a movie night? FRI, make plenty of popcorn!"

Most shared a look then there were mumbled agreements and 'okay's and 'we don't really have a choice's all around and they filed out of the dinning room. Bucky slowly dragged Peter to his feet and the teen stayed right behind the man as they followed the other five Avengers out.

Some of the others who were watching thought it was somewhat amusing the rest weren't paying attention. In reality the younger was looking for anything that would endanger any of them, mainly Bucky. Peter saw nothing that stood out enough to trigger his danger-sense. And truthfully everyone in this room was just as dangerous as him and could take care of themselves if anything happened. But he never knew...

The brunette man led them both to a cushioned sofa big enough for three that Steve was already at and sat down. Then he motioned for Peter to follow. The youngest plopped himself between Bucky and Steve so that both men were on either side of him.

"What movie do you want to watch?" Tony asked surprising the others when he sat down on the couch with a sigh next to the rest. Usually he retreated to his lab immediately after dinner, that is if they could get the billionaire to eat. Usually Bruce and Pepper had to tag-team it just to get the forgetful genius to actually eat. Pepper would be gone for an entire week for a business deal in Tokyo, and Bruce was sure at some point force feeding would be needed.

"Star wars, maybe?" Clint asked glancing at Peter who remained expressionless. He and his own teenager always liked the movies, maybe Peter would be the same.

"No, let's do Paul Blart," Tony said as he raced to get the finished popcorn.

"Why Paul Blart?"

"'Cause it's funny. Duh," he then came back with three bags. He handed one mega bag to Steve to share among their group, another to Natasha, and kept the last for him and Bruce to share. "Or, Mrs. Doubtfire."

"What do you think, Pete?" Steve asked, being sure to bring Peter into their conversation.

Said teenager simply tilted his head in thought of the options. Echoes, barely feelings, of laying on a car hood staring up at the light polluted sky and naming off the stars, there was always someone with him. A man, his uncle, he thinks. "The star one?"

Clint pumped his fist in the air in victory as Tony dejectedly said, "FRIDAY, play Star Wars, episode I. Know what? Just play them all."

And turns out, Peter _really_ liked Star Wars. Clint was right, of course, in his assumption that Peter, underneath the traumatized assassin garb, was still a teenager. And he was fully immersed in the movie.

Then he began yawning. And try as he might to keep his eyes open, halfway through the second movie he finally gave in and fell asleep. Slumped against Bucky, who seemed to be his favorite human pillow out of all the super heroes.

When the second movie ended Tony had FRIDAY turn down the volume as the credits began rolling. Bucky, with more care and experience than the others expected- besides Steve-, scooped up the exhausted Peter who barely stirred when he stood up.

"I'll be back soon. We have some things we need to discuss," and with that the ex-assassin left to put the mini-assassin to bed. Once Peter was asleep wrapped in his blankets, Bucky told FRIDAY to alert him to any changes. Then he walked back to elevator and stopped when he neared the others. They were all standing stiffly arms crossed or in other tense positions. He could tell not a single word was said while they waited for him. On the television the ending credits had ended and it was beginning the next episode. Big yellow letters rolled across the TV.

When they noticed his arrival Tony was the first to speak. "You all notice too right?" The genius wasn't great with about dealing with his own emotions, ask anyone especially his girlfriend. But he was, if anything, observant as hell.

There was a somber silence following the nod. "It's not exactly unexpected," Bucky said his eyes reminiscent of another time.

One where he'd been freed of HYDRA's mind-control through a lengthy process and was learning how to live freely. Sometimes if he didn't catch himself he'd hand weapons when he walked into a room. The stares would be confused then it'd hit them. He gave them out as a precaution, because he was dangerous.

Then it would turn into a sad, pitting gaze that would haunt him for the rest of the day. Hell, all week. They didn't understand how difficult it was to be a weapon for what felt like forever then randomly one day *not*. But this young teen unfortunately did.

Natasha interrupted his thoughts as she asked, "What can we do?" Her question pointed towards no one in particular.

"Just let him know he has a choice and he doesn't need us to tell him what to do," Steve said, stealing a glance at Bucky. He was there from the beginning of Bucky's still ongoing recovery. "And most importantly, he needs to know he's safe."

There was a melancholy vide in the air as they separated and went to off bed or the labs with the reminder that they weren't just babysitting some random kid. No, they were given the duty of watching a child who'd been forced to do things no _adult_ ever should. With or without mind control he'd had no choice in anything he'd done. That was changing.

.oO0Oo.

The first nightmare happened a few nights later. It was to be expected he'd have one here. It wasn't like he'd just magically be cured of everything that happened.

The first few night he'd spent here he slept too deeply to have the kind of nightmares that woke him thanks to the relief of constant pain and good food. His body was trying to recover from everything that had happened since being liberated from that place and he needed ridiculous amounts of sleep and was always falling asleep if something/one wasn't stimulating him. Thanks to the food his healing factor was beginning to gain strength again and Bruce had estimated it to become better or about the same as Steve's. Which was rather impressive. He was beginning to get better and pretty soon he could start training.

He lay, wide awake and mind wandering. They stopped at a reoccurring thought that had been circulating in his mind since he realized he was relatively safe with the Avengers. He could do the same thing as the heroes.

To use his abilities for _good_. But who would want a hero like him, the Hunting Spider? He'd hurt more people than he could ever save, or so he thought. He could do it, maybe under another name than that. That could always be chosen at a different time.

Surrendering to his imagination he finally stood and walked to the desk. He shuffled through the drawers before finding a red and blue notebook and a couple colored drawing utensils then crawled back into his bed with his stash.

He opened it to the first page and essentially claimed it like he used to at school Property of Peter B. Parker. Then he flipped a few more, dog earing the page he stopped on.

He started with the shape of a body. It was obviously disproportionate but it'd do for this rough outline. He started with the top first. One of the few things he enjoyed from the Hunting Spider costume were the menacing eyes, maybe they should be a different color than gray. It was good for stealth but unneeded for this. So he drew the sunseed shaped eyes on the sketch, carefully putting the picture in his mind to paper. White would do good for those, but what about the rest of the outfit? He closed the notebook. This would never work, and now he'd need to apologize for wasting one of the notebooks.

He cracked open an eye and noticed the colors of his notebook. They were rather nice and went together well...

Wait. That might just work. Rather embarrassing that his outfit would be based on a notebook, but it would work.

He began designing it, taking care to imagine how it would look. When he finished it looked rather... Boring. And it didn't scream his namesake, spider... Spider-what though? Who-spider? Hm.

He glanced at his wrists, the metal devices shining almost menacingly in the low lights. Web-shooters. Webs. _Webs._ That could just work. And it was also very spider-y. He started with a line that went across the mask and continued outwards lines. And then he started circles until it was done until it looked like a web was laying across on the front, gloves, and boots. It wasn't very good, but... It was indeed a start.

Now with the idea firmly implanted in his mind and his sketches childishly hidden beneath his pillows, he started to fall asleep. He rhythmically rubbing his thumb against the cool metal on his palm. He could feel his muscles moving against the devices with every twitch of his fingers. And somehow it soothed his troubled mind and grounded the teen. He was not expecting a nightmare, nor did he expect what happened afterwards.

 _Peter was huddled in the corner of a SHIELD cell. He saw the Avengers walking past, giving him sneering looks. Like he was a rabid animal in a cage. What was he doing here? They turned him in. Their mocking words filtered in through the glass as he pushed himself into the corner. One in particular rose above the others._

 _"You could never be a hero," came a voice so familiar the teen squeezed his eyes shut. "You aren't enough. You can't even look at me without cowering!" The voice yelled, even though he'd never seen it's owner raise his voice. Peter raised his head defiantly to meet Bucky's eyes, the man's face was contorted in anger and pure hate. Like the scientist's often were._

 _"Yes," Peter countered, his voice small but steadier than he actually felt, "I can."_

 _"No you can't, you're a weapon. A creature that can only cause harm," he said slamming his fist on the teen's cell door._

 _"You need to be put down like the monster you are!" He growled opening the door and grabbing Peter's arm forcefully with the metal hand in a bone-crushing grip. Peter gave a short cry of pain and tried to pull away but it was no use. Something, probably inhibitors rapidly drained his energy. The the other Avengers appeared, similar expressions painted across their faces._ _They brought him to that room. The one where HYDRA would figure out how to use to make a perfect weapon. He was but a temporary solider until they could make their own._

 _He just escaped from this place, he couldn't be back. Not now, not ever. He began fighting harder but it was useless. The Avengers strapped down his arms and legs. Bruce prepared the poison and Tony filled it up. It was passed through the entire team until it stopped in Bucky's hands._

 _As the needle came closer his danger sense continued blaring and Peter stopped struggling in the iron grip, exhausted and chest heaving. He kept muttering 'stop' like a chant. Just as it was about to pierce his skin a sharp sensation stung across his cheek_ and his eyes flew open.

"B-Bucky?" Was the first thing Peter was able to gasp out, another wave of panic rising in his mind when he was saw who was holding his arms down to his sides with one hand. The other, his normal hand looked like it was the culprit behind his stinging cheek.

The teen tried to push the man away in his panic. He thought he felt something connect with his foot but his terrified mind only wanted away.

Finally Peter stopped struggling and let his chin rest on his chest as he kept breathing erraticly. The man tilted the teen's chin up and took in his red eyes, pudffy from crying and immediately knew what the haunted, faraway look he had meant. The teen's nightmare no doubt kicked up old memories. He saw the same look in himself when he remembered the past. When he was in the past. When he, Bucky, was back there under HYDRA's control with no freewill.

"Kid, look at me," he said, his deep voice seemed to startle Peter out of his mind for a second as his brown eyes automatically fell on him.

A flare of panic rose up in Bucky's mind. What was he supposed to do now? What did Steve do for him? Calm him down, right.

"You're not there, okay? You're here. With me, see?" He took the teen's right hand with his own larger one. Which he regretfully noticed had started bleeding through the bandages again from the thrashing. From his frail appearance it was hard to believe this kid could become stronger than Steve. The blonde man was stting at the end gingerly rubbing his cheek where he had had been the recipitant of a wild kick, leaving a growing bruise when he'd tried to move closer to them.

Peter gave a pitiful whine and squeezed his eyes shut and tried to drag in a ragged breath as he curled in on himself. But Bucky took both of the teen's hands before he could and moved them to his chest and took in an exaggerated breath. "You need to breath like me, okay. You're here, not there," the man repeated. "In and out. Inhale, exhale."

Peter began copying the older and it thankfully paid off as his breaths evened out and became easier and his eyes regained their usual intelligence but even more exhaustion.

Bucky gave a sigh of relief when he saw Peter was no longer delirious. The man let him go and moved backwards like he was pushed away like an imaginary bubble popped up around Peter. Out of the corner of teen's eye he saw another shadow. It was Steve, with a forming bruise on his cheek bone, sitting on his other side near the end.

A sick feeling formed in his stomach when he realized he caused those bruises. Bucky looked no worse for wear on the other hand, his hair was tangled up in a case of severe bedhead. But his face was normal, only wearing concern, unlike the rage his nightmare had held. But it felt so real. Too real for him.

He automatically scooted backwards from the two. Steve moved forwards to try and comfort the teen until Bucky waved him off. Instead Bucky came closer and Peter watched cautiously from where he'd wrapped himself in his blanket.

"Would you want to talk about it now or later?"

"Never," the teen said making his own option. He didn't want to talk about nightmares, it was dumb for him to have one loud enough to wake the two. If they continued like this they'd just realize he's too much trouble and send him to SHIELD. Peter put his head on his knees block everything out while Bucky waited for some response. But after a few minutes, silence was all that greeted him. The man sighed. He'd talk to him later and stood, Steve following.

"Wait! Stay," Peter squeaked out, the words had left his mouth before he could stop himself. Then he began scrambling for an excuse. "I-it's c-cold." Peter really hated the cold which was true, but they didn't care how some dumb teenage felt.

"I can have FRIDAY turn the heat up in your room," Steve said, just as bewildered as Bucky in that moment.

"I-it's n-not the s-same," Peter stuttered, he looked annoyed. The fact he seend to be trying to burn holes through his hands only proved this. Whether that annoyance was aimed at him or something else, he had no clue.

Suddenly, it hit him. Bucky blinked, and for a second he couldn't believe his ears.

But he honestly couldn't say no to those teary bambi eyes. And if the traumatized child actually wanted physical contact or comfort- which was the opposite of him when he began recovering from the mess on his life that was HYDRA- the least Bucky could do was be there.

So he crawled into the bed next to Peter, and Steve laid on the other side. Surprisingly the bed was rather large and fit all three comfortably. God, Bucky thought, what was this kid doing to him?

But the teen welcome the warmth and comfort that came from both, it was better than the lonely cold of a cell or the nightmares. Peter curled into Bucky's side and was out in minutes, Steve and Bucky following close behind.

So Bucky and Steve stayed the entire night and slept in. Steve as well, the man even skipped his morning jog. If any of the others went to wake up Peter the next morning, they didn't disturb them.

If anyone had come to check on the cuts on the teenager's hands and arms they probably stopped in their tracks when they noticed three distinct lumps in the bed. As they crept forwards, using the rising morning sun. They probably saw the long dried tear tracks on the younger's now peacefully asleep and understood. They probably would have simply taken a picture and let the three sleep.

.oO0Oo.

 _I had to rewrite this chapter 3 different times and took out about 2,000 words in deleted scenes and this **still** has a little over 4,000 words. Stuff gets better next chapter, I promise. I can't wait to get past these fluffy parts_ _to the other things In have planned for this._

 _I notice I say 'teen' a lot (brought to my attention by a guest review on my One-shot). Sorry, but I'm not going to fix the past chapters until I finish this story... But for now on I'm going to try and stop doing that so often '•.•\_

 _I got my results back from my auditions and I failed it so baaad. Ohmahgawds. Fuck you, anxiety. And I meant to get this out yesterday but the words wouldn't cooperate with me until today, but I had a dentist appointment. (I may have to get invisa-line for cosmetic purposes because my teeth are all sorts of ugly and jacked up, plus I can't do braces rn. But hey, I got a **ball**. It's tie dye. Yeeeeep.) Then my mom had her orientation so we were in the car for a while, I'm 90percent sure I fell asleep at some points. And I've also been at the pool like 24/7 lately. SORRY_

 _.oO0Oo._

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed! (A hundred favorites •,• Dam (pjo pun, sue me). Guys, I'm not even that good. Why you reading this? The plot line isn't even that good. It sucks. I suck. You guys don't, because you're all awesome and amazing people with tons of talent... But still, we need to talk about your decision making skills...)_

 _~Reviews~_

 _Guest: WHY DID I NOT SEE THIS REVIEW EARLIER?! Also, that's amazing. I forgot about Mjoulnir because I haven't written Thor into this story... Yet. XD But this will be fun. *Rubs hands evily.* I might just make a spinoff one-shot if I can't throw this in here soon. Because this is **such** a good idea._ _kittymyth69: Thx :)_

 _AnduriloofTolkien: Thx :)_

 _ALonesomeAuthor: All you people are too nice. For real. You make me smile. So stap. I'm freaking ugly when I smil- Wait, no, I'm ugly 24/7. But seriously, thank you and I'm excited to write those scenes in future chapters!_

 _Almighty X: Lol! The whole reason I'm writing this is because I wanted to read it but I knew someone else would mess it up, so here I am._ _lil cometz: Ahh! I'm glad :3_

 _Saphire1247: I am so glad you enjoy! I update a lot because I have no life beyond band (and we're on Summer break) or writing :D_

 _.oO0Oo. END OF A/N RANT .oO0Oo._

 _ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP MUTHAFLUFFERS, 'CAUSE I'M ONLY SAYIN' THIS ONCE._ _ON WATTPAD I DISCOVERED ONE OF MY READERS MADE A FANFIC NEARLY IDENTICAL TO THIS. IT WAS OBVIOUSLY BASED OFF OF MY FANFIC. I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS ON WATTPAD (they took it down eventually) BUT IF I SEE IT HAPPEN ON HERE I'M NOT STANDING FOR IT. (I shouldn't care this much because it's well, fanfiction, but I kind of do.)_

 _Freaking caps lock. Oh well. I ain't rewriting all that._


	10. Chapter 10

**[I sorta rewrote the first chapter again and changed some stuff including _how_ he got his powers to make it better. I'm not entirely done with that but I wanted to tweak that for upcoming chapters to make sense, so go skim that real quick, just a heads up. Unedited please ignore obvious mistakes I'll go over this tonight I just wanted to update quickly, might update again tonight as well.]**

 **Avengers and the Hunting Spider .•.•. (- That looks like a spooder.**

 **Part 2**

 **Chapter 10**

 **(One week after rescue.)**

Within a week things began to calm down and the team plus their guest fell into the lull of a daily routine. Bruce continued to stuff Peter at least once a day, usually at dinner as much as possible. He was still severely underweight for his age, which was fast approaching fifteen. The teenager didn't seem to mind too much as long as the flavor wasn't too spicy, which was something he constantly disliked. He also (without realizing it) avoided foods with ingredients in natural pesticides that repelled spiders.

Which Tony had at first thought was hilarious, before Bruce mentioned he could be dangerously allergic to a lot more ingredients and pesticides than most normal humans. Tony then immediately shut up, and may have later asked FRIDAY to make a list of foods and chemicals Peter could be allergic to.

Another constant about the teenager- that would hopefully fade with time and patience- was that he was jumpy and would flinch. Especially when others moved too close too quickly around him or if things became too overwhelming. And he had a large dislike for shiny surfaces- tables or beds especially- which filled the team with unquestioned dread.

He seemed to trust Bucky and Steve the most so he continued staying on their floor where they could keep an eye on him. They were also helping him with the new relazation of having a choice in what happened to him. It started small and underwhelming, like choosing what clothes he'd be wearing for the day (Tony had ordered an entire wardrobe full of clothes for Peter a few days after they'd started getting him adjusted to his new surroundings and were sure he wouldn't run off).

Their main goal was to remind him he had a choice and free will at the Avenger's Tower and everywhere else. He most often used it to leave and go to another 'safe room' if he didn't feel comfortable in their company. That last one was probably the most important part of that. It wasn't uncommon for Peter's eyes to become foggy and for him to suddenly leave the room if there were too many people or it became too much for his senses.

But they still hardly knew a thing about him and his personality. Sure they had tons of files on his every cell and capability but they didn't know _him_ as a person. Although when there was something going on though like a mission alert, they'd only had two small missions and at least one of them would stay with Peter since they'd taken Peter. Mostly Bucky or Steve. And when he was distracted anxiously watching the news his protective shell began to fall away and revealed his true, not as skittish, personality.

Most of the team had managed to become closer with the teenager seemingly without him realizing it and pushing them away. Except Tony. Since Pepper was coming home from Tokyo in a few weeks but neither were sure on an exact time so Tony was extremely busy preparing for her arrival. He hadn't told her about their guest either. As such he was always running around and fixing things up, as everything _had_ to be just perfect. Tony was quite nervous to tell the hotheaded Pepper about the fact they'd brought in a dangerous and possibly deadly HYDRA assassin into his Tower. Where hundreds of people milled about in their daily lives, working all the while blissfully unaware of Peter's very existence. If the press ever got a hold of the fact there was a child in the Tower... There were too many ways that could be interpreted.

Even with his limited contact Tony noticed few things about the teenager. For one, he was was smart. Very much so. And according to the school records in Queens he'd always been extremely smart. At six he was in third grade. And his intelligence showed in his every move. From the way he eyed and assessed everyone. Like he was planning to take them all down at any second with a strategy designed for them. He even would choose his words very carefully. But he still stumbled for something to say when he got nervous or too flustered to find the right words. Especially when he was asked things about his current wellbeing. He seemed weirded about by the question to begin with.

But it was a calm Thursday around midday when Tony finally figured out a rather obvious way to see just _how_ smart the teenager was. He couldn't just ask like 'hey I wanna test you'. Tony could only guess all the emotional trauma he'd endured and was probably internally wallowing in. Tony had enough experience in that aspect, and he also knew how to help it thanks to the efforts of Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce. One thing he was sure of was that Peter needed to be distracted, and Tony knew a way he could learn about their guest and calm the kid down, all at the same time...

Peter was the relaxing in the main room where he and a few of the others spent the majority of their time if they weren't at SHIELD or on missions. Peter seemed to hate being alone as much as he did being around other people. He both craved and repelled human interaction. They could only speculate what would happen when he had to suddenly meet someone outside the current six he knew in the delicate state of trust he was in. But still, progress was progress. He was currently curled in the corner of the couch absorbed in the graphics on the TV. He was seated a few spots from Steve, entirely unaware of what was to come barreling out from the elevator.

"It's strange seeing how much entertainment technology has changed like when Bucky an-" _Ding!_

Both males looked up in curiosity at who was joined them now. Clint, Natasha, and Bucky were sparring downstairs in the training room. Steve had gotten back from his walk half an hour prior and had decided to keep Peter company. While Bruce was probably where usually Tony was, the labs. The two geniuses were surprisingly easy to predict in their day to day lifestyles.

But they were a bit surprised to see Tony exit the elevator this early in the afternoon. Usually he didn't leave except to get something for for him and Bruce or movie nights. What happened next surprised Peter more than he should have admitted, the moment Tony entered the room he locked eyes with Peter. Who was too stunned at the man's expression to shrink away. It was excitement, and Tony was staring right _at_ Peter. It caused a flash of fear which he tried to dismiss. This was Tony he was talking about. The man may be eccentric and random but he was always kind to the teenager.

"Peter!" He exclaimed making the named teenager tilt his head like a confused puppy.

"Mr. Stark...?" He greeted back, and didn't bother to keep the questioning tone out of his voice.

The man just grinned and walked forwards, taking Peter's wrist and began dragging him to the elevator. He took extra care of the metal device inside the teenager's good arm (unsure whether they actually caused any pain).

"Mr. Stark!" Peter yelped as he shot a look of desperation to Steve. The blond looked about as surprised but couldn't offer much help. "Sorry Pete, there's not much I can do. Once he has an idea, no matter how bizarre, he does it."

Peter rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth and ground both him and Tony to a halt. Using one his more mundane powers on the floor, the ability to stick to nearly every surface. He was careful not to pull his arm away or using any super strength for fear of hurting Tony. And he hadn't used many of his powers since the 'escape fiasco'.

"Mr. Stark, w-what are you doing? A-and where are you t-taking me?" Peter asked, uncertainty on what he was supposed to do in this situation coming off him in waves.

"First of all, my name's Tony. I'm not that old. And second, I'm stealing you from Steve, see? C'mon, kiddo, wave good-bye," Tony said giving the teenager another tug towards the open elevator. Peter didn't even budge.

"But why?" Peter asked stubbornly, crossing his arms. Like a regular teenager, Tony realized.

"It's a surprise. It's rude to ruin surprises."

Peter faltered for a second at the word 'surprise'. "I don't like surprises." It was all too true. The days where they did something to his senses and everything was screaming at him and he couldn't see. They'd take him to that room and refuse to tell him what was going on. All he felt was pain, heightened pain. And they only laughed and repeated the words 'it's a surprise' in bad English as a taunt.

"Tch. We'll have to fix that or birthday parties will be no fun. Just follow, you'll have fun, kid, I promise." He gave another slight tug. There was a stare off, a battle of wills... Tony won, he was a business man after all.

"Fine," Peter relented and turned to face Steve as he was dragged off. "Traitor."

 _Well that was easier than expected,_ Tony admitted to himself. He was honestly expecting more of a fight, he snickered to himself.

.oO0Oo.

Before the elevator dinged and opened Peter looked rather bored. He was beginning to get used to smothering the anxiety from the regular rides in the cramped metal box he took. He considered it a sort of weakness, if they knew about it, eventually when they got bored with him they'd simply use them against him. He blocked it out and didn't register the fact they stopped on a floor he'd never been to.

The doors slid open and Peter's whole body went rigid with shock at the sight in front of him. "What _is_ this?" Peter asked, his eyes shining with concealed joy. Proving once again he was just an excitable young teenager under the layers of protection he'd built around himself. They only saw his personality when he was distracted, which was fine by Stark. There were hundreds of things to distract him with, just in lab floors alone. Tony took the look on his face as a small victory.

"This is Tony Stark's private lab," Tony said, his usual gusto showing. "You're one of the few people who've seen this in person and up close."

Peter stopped bouncing on his heels and turned to the man, "Why _are_ you showing me this?" This kid's emotions were a rollercoaster and could give anyone whiplash if they weren't prepared.

Tony paused then shrugged coolly and decided on the honest route. "I actually want to see just _how_ smart you are."

"Oh," it wasn't disappointed but his excitement died down. Tony was simply studying him. While he was here, he was a danger to the others. But he also needed to be assessed on how _big_ of a threat he was. Which was fine, he was rarely in pain anymore. Since coming here he had healed quicker than ever before.

The only pain he had was a small throb from his shoulder if he moved it too much or quick. But it wasn't their fault, that was Mad's. And according to Bruce, his healing factor would tackle that soon since everything serious needed to be finished first. But the thing that still shocked him the most was the fact he wasn't randomly punished. They had never hurt him purposely- when he had to wear the sling and adjust it Bruce would apologize profusely when Peter winced. They'd read his files, he knew or had a very accurate guess of what they said. _Monster. Weapon. Experiment._

So Peter decided a little testing never hurt. Well, it usually did. He doubted they'd do anything invasive like tissue samples. At least without his permission. They didn't seem like those kind of people, unlike the agents who'd been in charge of the experiments taking place in that facility. Peter could usually read people fairly accurately, and did it often without noticing. He could usually guess what the Avengers were thinking, except Natasha, the fact both scared him and he had a large amount of respect for the redhead. On the other hand he was pretty sure Bucky let him read his emotions. Because he were always calm but not a false sculpted expression. He tried to avoid panic like Peter as well. Often when the others quarreled they glanced at each other and left the room to find somewhere quiet to read. He had a lot better control over them than the emotional teenager.

Tony however _was_ an open book. The man was as expressive as cartoon characters on the TV shows Peter watched before school as a child. But Peter knew that was because he wasn't guarding what he showed. He could probably remain impassive when it mattered. Hell he could probably create something for that. Peter guessed that's what masks were for.

"Don't look so downcast. If you pass my little test you get to be a new science buddy, Pete," Tony put a hand on Peter's shoulder, noticing the involuntary flinch, and led him to one of Tony's messy plastic tables. They were covered in every sort of mess whether it was food, blueprints, or even various machine parts it was there. Bruce's desks and experiments were on the other side of the room and appeared to be a lot more organized than the billionaire's.

His face regained the earlier excitement, but dimmer with anxiousness at the thought of _failing_ Tony's test of intelligence. The tests he'd taken were all physical never mental, though they'd shoved plenty knowledge into his mind. What did Tony have in mind? Did it involve his powers for some reason?

"Here, sit there," he pointed then started digging through the piles of papers on the desktop and drawers. Peter's mind continued to race around in circles, his danger-sense remained thankfully silent.

"Aha!" He straightened out again and set a thin folder in front of the teenager. It had a sticker marking it was blacked out. Peter tilted his head at it then looked to Tony for him to explain.

The man sighed and opened it, a small smile on his face as Peter's eyes widened comically. Blueprints. Not just for anything, not some coffee machine or any various other technology in the house. But an actual, though obviously much older, model of an Iron Man suit. Tony, understandably, didn't trust him to see the modern ones or he thought the older ones would be easier to understand.

"Why? What am I supposed to do with these?" He squeaked, still unsure on what he was doing with these.

"Make something with them. Improve it, create your own idea. I don't really care. Show me what goes on in that brain of yours. If you do good I'll let you make your own AI," Tony said turning and stalking out the door. "Just tell FRIDAY when you're done."

"Oh-kay..." Peter said as the door closed leaving him alone in the silent room. He turned back to the blueprints and smiled. This was going to be fine.

.oO0Oo.

It was not fine. Peter scowled at the stubbornly blank page. "You appear to be exhibiting signs of an elevated heartbeat and anxiety," FRIDAY informed him.

"I didn't notice," he responded sarcastically. He didn't mind conversing with the AI as much. When he'd first heard the disembodied voice Peter had been more than freaked out. After a couple days he got used to it and found himself talking with her when he got bored and everyone else- except maybe Tony- was asleep.

"Would you like me to get you anything?" FRIDAY asked.

"A good idea would be great," he snipped back, resting his head on his arms and began mindlessly fiddling with the web-shooters. Webs... Spiders... Peter shot up. "I have an idea!" He whispered to himself.

"Congratulations."

Peter stuck his tongue out at the ceiling and began working on his project. Glancing occasionally at the Iron armor blueprints or the clocks.

.oO0Oo.

Peter inspected the layout of his idea for any and all mistakes. Finding no obvious ones or anything he couldn't fix if he went in greater detail, he finally turned to FRIDAY. "Hey FRI, I'm done. Could you please tell Tony... Please?"

"Of course Mr. Parker. He is on his way."

Peter bit his lip. "Can you... Uh, just call me Peter?"

"Of course, Peter," the AI said.

The doors opened and Peter sauntered in over to the spare desk Peter was seated at. The teenager moved to get out of his way but Tony easily moved around him and picked up the papers. The man paused for a second, obviously surprised with what was written. Whether it was a good or bad surprise Peter wasn't exactly sure.

After a moment of silence and probably mental calculations Tony finally went, "Wow." As he flipped through the same pages of teenager's models of his own weapon designs. It was some unknown suit with touches from the Iron man suits added to it. But the sketches included extra limbs, four to be exact. Like Otto Octavious except they were sharpened to a point. Then there was a spider emblem across the chest. It was an... Iron-Spider suit. Then he finally addressed Peter. "Good god, you're an arachna-nerd. Where'd you come up with these, kid?"

Peter shifted and gave an uncomfortable smile. He shrugged. "Just came up with it I guess." To be honest that wasn't exactly the whole truth but as far as Tony knew it was. Every night since the idea had come to him he'd been working on a costume idea for himself. Today he'd just combined the designs and created something different. He knew it was a bad idea but he'd done it anyway and now he'd failed Tony's test.

"Well it's a great idea," Peter looked up, surprised, at that. "If you want I can see if Bruce and I can get a desk cubicle set up for you?" It wasn't exactly a question, more like an offer.

Peter gave a half nod. Which to Tony seemed to translate as absolutely because he gave a grin and motioned for Peter to follow as he gave him a tour and showed him all the machines. Peter may have a problem with becoming too attached to the 'pieces of scrap metal' as Tony put it. Dum-E may have started actually petting his head. All the while, FRIDAY got pictures and Tony yelled at the robot because it dropped the box of smaller parts it was holding.

.oO0Oo.

(Two weeks after rescue.)

'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.'

As most of the team understood and valued this motto... Except Peter on most days. He hadn't been here long but he often slept until one of them woke him up. The first few days Bruce had allowed it, saying that the teenager needed to rest. But eventually it was becoming ridiculous, Peter could sleep an entire day away if Bruce didn't wake him up directly or send one of the others to do it.

This morning however was the opposite.

Peter yawned and stretched sleepily. He opened an eye expecting to see someone waking him up. FInding no one, he frowned. Did he actually sleep the whole night?

He blinked. That was a nice change, he was obviously awake before they expected him, he usually he was dragged out his bed and to breakfast by Bucky or Steve. Most of his late nights were due to his constant insomnia and because he didn't sleep after his nightmares. This time was different, he'd managed to sleep through the night for once and felt better and rested than he had in a long time. Usually when he was woken up there was the smell and promise of food.

He planned on staying in his room and maybe reading until someone came to 'wake' his up when breakfast was made but his stomach protester this with loud growling. "FRIDAY, what time it is?"

"It's 5:28 am, Peter."

"Wow." Peter was surprised with just how early he'd woken up. There was obviously no food cooking so Peter hopped off his bed and made his way silently into the elevator. He didn't want to wake up Bucky since his room was closer this early if he was still asleep.

When he stepped out and asked about Steve FRIDAY confirmed that Steve, the one who made breakfast whenever Sam- whoever that was- wasn't around, was still on his morning run. Not bothering to turn on any lights he looked for something to eat.

Then the elevator 'ding'ed and Peter jumped. Onto the ceiling high to be exact. He watched with slight amusement as Steve entered the kitchen and the lights turned on. He stretched his arms over his head, even though he'd gone on a run he was hardly breaking a sweat. And the man was peacefully unaware of the teenager crouched on the ceiling. It always amazed Peter that people never looked up. Steve started whistling what sounded like the national anthem and few other ditties as he started getting out pans to cook breakfast. He put them on the stove along with some of the dry ingredients on the countertops.

When he had his head buried in the fridge to get the meats and milk Peter decided with a wicked grin on his face that it was time to say good morning. He twisted himself around and landed lightly on the ground behind the blonde man. Unable to hide the growing smirk as he loudly asked, "Can I help?"

The effect was instantaneous as Steve wiped around with a yelp, dropping most of the things (thank Thor he hadn't picked up the eggs or milk yet). "Peter!" He exclaimed, recognizing the small frame and wild brown hair. Then his shocked composer crumbled and he doubled over laughing. Peter tried not to but Steve's laugh was contagious and he ended up giggling along with him.

After a good two minutes of being unable to look at each other without laughing they finally started calming down. Peter helped pick up the scattered foods while Steve grabbed the rest of what he needed.

"You," he pointed directly at Peter, "are not allowed to bring this up to Clint. You know what, he's a bad influence. Stay away from him entirely."

Peter stiffled a laugh but failed as his eyes seemed to betray him. "Still wanna help me make breakfast?" Steve asked after a minute.

Peter nodded with a smile. It didn't sound that hard, if Steve could do it surely Peter could too...

It was a lot harder than either expected. For one, Peter had never cooked anything, period. He was six when he was kidnapped by a bunch of outdated Nazis and teaching cooking didn't seem to be on their agenda when they were creating a weapon.

The next was he seemed unable of adding dry ingredients slowly. In fact slow was not even in his vocabulary. As such he couldn't seem to mix the ingredients without making the flour or another powdery ingreadient fly up into the air just to settle on the both of them. Then they simply poured the batter into the pan taking turns, Steve's were perfect circles- unfair- while Peter's were lumpy and seemed to be any shape but round. In the end they ended up with about twenty pancakes.

When they cooked the bacon Peter's spider senses wouldn't quit going off every time the grease popped, leaving him dizzy and in the end Steve ended up finishing those while Peter made scrambled eggs without incident. The two finished the breakfast in less than an hour.

And by then the rest of the team started waking up, none of them commented on their appearances. Except Bucky who started trying to wipe the flour off both of their faces. Steve decided when the next prank war start Peter would be his secret weapon.

.oO0Oo.

 _Wow. I'm not dead... Yet. But, yeah, I'm back for now (*cue boo-ing noises*)._

 _This chapter was originally 15,000 words, I'm splitting it up. Sorry. It was taking too long._

 _Word: 4,000_

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed! You people continue to amazing me with the shear number (I know it's not that much for some but it is for me) of people reading this crap. How the freaking hell has this managed to get nearly 800 views on Wattpad? Just, whoa... I've had three people demanding I update. Lol_

 _~Reviews~_

 _Guest (2?): Oh my gods... Yes._

 _Guest (1, I think): Because I love Gwen... Not in that way. Get yer mind outta the gutters. And because she's one of my favorite characters from the Spider-Man movies I watched before HC._

 _AppleSpongeCake: Yep. I do that a lot if I'm paying attention... Which I'm not. Ever. XD_

 _Guest: TY_

 _Guest, Aura: My reaction to your comment: *Gets email notification, read the first part of your sentence.* Say wot m8? Thx? I think. I like violin so you're pretty cool too. I play flute XP._

 _ALonesomeAuthor: Tysm. And seriously (*gasp* seriousness), keep being an amazing person._

 _CelinaB: Np! :D_ _lil cometz (2): Very glad you enjoy :)_

 _kittymyth96: Thx this and my last chapter were just very boring, difficult, and long to get through. :P_

 _Guest Review: Thx! :)_


	11. Chapter 11

**Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part Two**

 **Chapter 11**

(One month after rescue.)

Pepper was coming back today. Pepper Potts was coming home. To Tony Stark.

She should have weeks ago, but thanks to her flights constantly being delayed or some new meeting would popping up she would constantly get stuck or pulled away once again. It was difficult for her and Tony individually but as a couple they needed to be in each other's presence again.

Which is why both were elated when Pepper managed to find a flight and was able to escape any meetings. Now, after two months of barely being able to text they were finally going to get to see each other again for a at least a few days before they had to split again.

Until then every second seemed to pass like an hour for Tony. He continually checked his phone for any updates on Pepper's plane, which was on schedule to land within the next two hours. He couldn't help his racing anxiety as he paced the lab. Milo Murphy's law enjoyed torturing him, and the people around him, at every chance it got.

In Peter's perspective he was sitting down in the lab with Tony. He could strangely tell how much Virgina 'Pepper' Potts meant to Tony just by his behaviors. Every since last week when they finally made a plan to see each other again the man looked like he'd had no sleep and five too many cups of coffee.

Which actually happened all too often, unfortunately. He was constantly moving- his impatience showing. He would sit down on a lab stool and bounce his knee, fingers tapping on the table. Then he would stand and pace while checking his phone.

Peter on the other hand was sitting on his 'perch' (his personal chair) with his knees up to his chest and his chin resting on them. He followed the haggard genius with his eyes. He was becoming antsy with just sitting in one place and watching Tony's consistent pacing. So the teen stood and started following Tony around.

There was a slight tingling of his senses (he was debating calling it his spider-sense given from where it came from) from the direction of Tony's phone. A nifty little trick he'd discovered a while ago. Tony, on the other hand, didn't, nor did he expect his phone to start buzzing. The man jumped and the phone clattered to the ground as it fell from his hands.

Tony dove for it switched off the alarm to remind him to start heading to the airport to pick up Pepper. Not that he needed it. Tony looked extremely relieved to finally be finished with his long wait and stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

He grabbed his sunglasses and jacket that were thrown on his desk for this purpose when he came down here to try and get his mind off waiting and he started walking towards the elevator.

"Wait, Mr. Stark!" Called Peter before the teen could stop himself. Tony turned around, a questioning look on his face. "Can I come? Please," Peter asked. Being in and around the tower, though not as bad as before, still made him anxious most of the time.

Tony faltered. "Um, c'mere." And the man started walking back to his lab station. As Peter approached he took note of the numerous empty Chinese food cartons and pizza boxes. This table looked more like a teenager's bedroom than a desk, in the private lab of a billionaire.

Tony finally finished shuffling around and pulled out a semi-clean hoodie. He handed it to Peter who pulled it over his head. The first thing he noticed was that it was a bit big. The hoodie swallowed his upper body and went down to above his knees. Tony grabbed a near identical pair of sunglasses to his and Peter put them on his face. Which it covered most of and kept falling down his nose. Tony smirked at the teenager's predicament. He swatted Peter's hand away from the sleeve as he tried to roll them up.

"Nuh uh. Keep them down, it'll hide the web-shooters." Peter stopped. His thumb moving to rub against the metal through the hoodie nervously. What if someone saw them? He hadn't even thought of that.

"The airport Pepper's landing at isn't going to be crowded, so hopefully these disguises are just cautionary and no one will notice us," he paused. "But, we can never be too careful."

Tony turned his attention to the teen's 'hobo' hair went to about the middle of his neck. He frowned and started brushing down the unruly hair with just his fingers to tame the mess. It didn't work. The cowlicked hair just popped back up. Peter swatted the man away in a similar fashion to Tony's earlier display.

Tony clicked his tongue disapprovingly at the absurd length of it. "Pepper can cut that." For extra measure he pulled the hood over the messy brown hair. Peter pushed the hair out of his eyes and glared.

That brought up a question he'd been too nervous to ask randomly. "What's Pepper like?" He asked as they made their way towards the elevator. If he was going to be around the woman he may as well know what she was like. Knowing your enemy and whatnot, or maybe he was just curious...

Tony watched Peter through the corner of the eye. "Responsible, for one. In fact she runs most of the company. I just sign stuff sometimes and go to meetings."

Peter nodded and tilted his head to say 'keep going'. So then Tony rambled on for a few solid minutes about everything Pepper. They'd had plenty of rough spots, Tony told him, and places where their relationship could have been cut off... But, like a true power couple they'd managed to work through that. And he know both were happy they did. Now they were engaged and this had been Pepper's first time out of the country since they broke the news to everyone- including the public. So Tony couldn't wait to see her again.

Tony also couldn't wait for Peter to meet her as well given that the teen lived there now. He did worry that their personalities would clash given that they were different in some important ways. But Peter seemed to act like he'd put some effort in getting to know her so he didn't think it'd be _too_ bad.

While Tony continued, skipping over bad memories and details. Peter knew he was being distracted but hardly cared. He was eager to learn about the people he was staying with for the foreseeable future.

So as they walked along he contentedly continued to strain to hear the quiet- to keep away from prying ears- words. The teenager decided against commentary and just occasionally nodded but otherwise simply watched behind large sunglasses.

Peter would probably never admit it but he was glad to see the genius so happy. And if he was honest, Pepper slightly scared him slightly. With what Tony had described she was pretty strict with her fiance, he made a mental note to stay on her good side.

But according to Tony she'd love him. Peter wasn't really that sure and decided better safe than sorry. Which was one of the reasons he'd begun to regret impulsively tagging along. When he started thinking about it, this was a bad idea. So many things could go wrong, Peter realised with a nervous expression that Tony took notice of.

"Calm down kid, I can feel your anxiety from here."

"Sorry, Mr.- er- Tony," he said with a slight sheepish grin at the annoyed look on the man's face.

The man waved him off with a huff. "And stop apologizing, Pete. And trust me when I say Pepper is a people's person and she's better with kids than me," Tony said as they stepped out of the elevator and towards one of his cars. "Like I said, she'll love you. You're adorable." The billionaire finished the statement by ruffling the teenager's hair through the hoodie... Again.

Peter huffed in annoyance. "I am _not_."

"Yes... Yes you are." He held back on a 'you killed with cuteness' joke. Even Tony knew when a joke was too inappropriate. And Peter probably wouldn't take kindly to his humor, as it was the kid seemed on the verge of a panic attack anytime his past was mentioned but would joke around as much as Tony.

They both got in and Tony shut his door and buckled in. Tony turned back to Peter and motioned for him to hurry up. "C'mon Pete."

Peter tilted his head like a confused puppy. "What?"

"Can you buckle in? I'm not driving if you don't," he said.

"Oh." An embarrassed blush spread across his face. Damn this kid was expressive when he wasn't under pressure, Tony was going to have fun teasing him like the menace he was.

Peter managed to quickly buckle in with a ' _click_ '. The only problem was that his seatbelt was all twisted in spirals.

Tony gave an annoyed groan and reached over and redid Peter's seatbelt, untangling it. Said teenager looked thoroughly embarrassed. "Do you even know how to buckle a seatbelt?" Tony asked genuinely.

Peter knew _how_ to buckle up, but there had never been much of a need to. He rarely used to get into their small car and he always rode the bus to school. He'd still been in a booster chair when he last rode one outside of the odd getaway car. He did a halfed nod and shrug. Tony thankfully accepted that answer and started the car.

Now that both were buckled in Tony backed up and took off with a screech. From there it was a rather noisy ride that included a battle for control of the stereo's volume. Peter, to Tony's surprise, ended up winning by warding off the man's hands and keeping it at his desired volume by using his temporary webbing to keep it in place. Neither spoke during the ride, Peter simply listened to the lyrics and tapped along. Tony would sometimes mutter the lyrics under his breath and Peter found it amusing he could keep up with the loud fast lyrics.

Roughly thirty minutes later they pulled into the airport parking lot. Peter was surprised with the sheer number of people and cars going in and out of the main building. For Tony, this was a smaller airport that wasn't even in Manhattan like they'd planned. Pepper, unlike him, didn't like to be in the spotlight longer than needed so they chose to not go where they'd likely be recognized.

Tony looked Peter up and down taking in the stiff posture and flitting eyes. "Hey, kid, you don't have to do go in. We can just wait in the car until she lands if you'd like."

Peter was jolted from his daze and yelled, "No!" The last thing he wanted to do was be stuck in the car or have to make Tony drive him back. He had asked to do this... He could make it through this... Right?

Tony on the other hand jumped, not expecting the extremely quiet and reserved teen to have an outburst like that. Peter was beginning to collapse in on himself like he did when he wanted out of a certain situation. Tony had a moment of panic and the image of Peter trying to escape, and quickly amend it. "Hey, it's okay. Just stick close to me and you'll be fine, okay? I don't want you getting lost. But if you do, please don't get on any planes."

Peter stopped and nodded. And suddenly he was back again, all emotions wiped from his face. Tony knew they would have to be extremely patient and calm with him but he wasn't exactly know for his unlimited patience. Maybe allowing him to come was a bad idea, what if he tried to escape?

The only thing that fueled his theory that he wouldn't run, is if Peter couldn't stand a small airport there was no way he'd survive the city itself.

The two got out and Tony was taken off guard when Peter's smaller hand grabbed onto the bottom of his jacket. Since Summer was finally ending and Fall was beginning they only looked a little overdressed but it wasn't enough to attract unnecessary attention. Tony walked around to the back of the surprisingly inconspicuous car and pulled out a sign that maybe Peter snort.

It said the word 'Potts' but the rest of the sign was covered in an outrageous amount of pink glitter and tacky stickers. Tony smiled at him and said, "You like? I've been using this for the past three years. Pepper absolutely hates it." Tony gave a slightly maniacal laugh at the memories of humiliating Pepper with the bedazzled sign. "If you think this is bad, you should see the one she made for me. At this point it's a running gag if one of us goes out of state."

Peter couldn't stop the giggle that came out as the man checked his watch, "Her plane should be landing soon so we have some time to kill when we get inside. What should we do until then...?"

Peter shrugged, offering no solutions for their impending boredom. He was fine just hanging out in the car until Pepper's plane actually landed. Then Tony's expression lit up in a telltale sign he had an idea. "I know! I should to show you the wonderful sellers of useless, plastic novelty items and trinkets... Gift shops!"

Peter blinked, unsure as to what he was agreeing to. Then shrugged. Why not?

"Good," Tony started walking, dragging Peter shortly behind him.

When they entered the airport something that assaulted Peter immediately was the sound of hundreds of people conversing. It was loud enough to make him wince. Tony noticed and nudged him with his elbow. When Peter looked up questioningly he handed the teenager red and blue ear plugs. "They'll help," he said, pointing to his own ears. Peter nodded and took them, they helped take the painful edge off and allowed him to think, but it was still loud.

Then there were the smells that assaulted him, though not nearly as bad. Some were horrible and smelled of people and sweat. Though nothing could be as bad as his cell- covered in vomit and blood and- Stop! He mentally berated himself for bringing that up. He couldn't even pretend to be normal if he _kept_ thinking about it.

Peter tilted his head as something else caught his attention. The smell of sugar. Without realizing it he had started leading them towards it, his grip on Tony's shirt never failing and bringing dragging the genius along.

"Whoa kiddo, you hungry?" Tony asked bringing them both to a halt. Peter gave a sheepish half-nod. "Okay then. We'll get some real food when we get out with Pep, but for now how about some drinks?" The billionaire motioned towards the restaurant Peter had been leading them to.

Peter gave a small embarrassed laugh as he pushed Tony in front of him as if the shield himself from people's gazes. Tony wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders to try and comfort him and for once Peter let him.

They entered the small Starbucks and while Tony got them both drinks Peter scoped out an empty table. Tony handed Peter a medium hot chocolate as they waited for Pepper's plane to land. "No coffee for you," he said pointedly when he saw Peter's big doe eyes on his own cup.

They had discovered the teenager, like many his age, had a strong sweet tooth if it had sugar he would likely inhale it. And Bruce said giving him fatty foods was all the better in their mission to get the teen up to prime- or at least better- health he needed to gain weight and build up his stamina. As such he was only fighting through will alone.

The teen was also becoming extremely hyper as he continued healing and his less extensive injuries disappeared. The scratches and bruises that had marred a good deal of his skin had long since disappeared. Now it was more like just the phantom pains that remained.

He was a long way from healthy. While he was in this state it was better to stay away from things that could harm him. Things like coffee would probably be too bitter for his tastes anyways, but they hadn't allowed him to try it to find out. Thanks to his arachnid DNA they didn't know if caffeine would have any other negative effects, like it did in his eight legged brethren, other than stunting his already compromised growth. Thanks to his lack of truly nutritious food he likely would have stunted growth issues.

For Peter the sweet drink stirred memories in his chest. Peter was sad to realize that he didn't even have a full memory, just the feeling of a warm cup in his hands and knitted blankets draped over him, the rest was lost to time and the stresses of what he'd gone through... His brow was furrowed as he tried to force his mind remember. To break through the mental barrier keeping him from remembering.

On the other hand when Tony look up from his phone where he was checking the time and making sure nothing was happening- if something did he had his suit on practical speed dial. That's when he noticed the look on Peter's face. It was a look of the past, one he definitely saw often, on his teammates, random people everywhere, and now Peter.

"Hey Peter?" He waved a hand in front of the younger's face to snap him out of it. Thankfully the reaction wasn't as violent as before. Peter just blinked rapidly to clear the memories and moved away from the object in his vision. "Yeah?"

"What do ya say we blow this popsicle stand, hm?" He asked nonchalantly to try and get Peter's mind out of whatever he was remembering. Peter just nodded contentedly, happy to be outside the Tower and to go along with their mission to pick up the soon to be Mrs. Potts-Stark.

They stood and left, Tony having paid in a hundred dollar bill and walking away. Leaving a stunned, purple haired barista. They walked, Peter continually held on to Tony's sleeve as if the waves of people would sweep him away.

They arrived at a small shop that seemed for the most part deserted. Peter seemed to enjoy browsing the store but Tony made it his duty to buy whatever Peter wanted. Whenever they were looking around and something caught Peter's interest Tony would not-so-descretly pick it up it

At one point he started laughing loud enough Peter turned to stare, bewildered. When he held up an 'adorable' (as Tony put it) plush spider toy. Peter grimaced. Every since he was bitten his life quickly went down the figurative drain.

He blamed them- more specifically the spider that had managed to crept up on him- for the fact he hadn't died with the rest of his family. So yes, he did not like them and he cursed arachnids as a whole. Very colorfully, and in several of the different languages he'd tried to pick up.

Peter fixated the man with a cross look, which Tony returned with a wink and his usual annoying smirk. When he tried to put it back Tony protested saying that Bucky and Steve needed to see it.

Speaking of the two mother-hens, Tony was surprised his phone wasn't blowing up with threats from the two fossils demanding Peter be returned to them immediately. The super soliders probably hadn't even noticed Peter and Tony had left the Tower.They- and often Bruce- tended to hole themselves up in the lab for hours working on projects. Plus, FIRDAY wouldn't betray _Tony_ right?

... Nevermind. The only reason the AI hadn't told was because it included Peter having fun. He should be concerned with how his machines developed feelings to become attacked to Peter... But he honestly couldn't blame them. The teenager was a frightening mix of harmless and harmful. Like a really dangerous puppy... A spider-puppy.

When they checked out, no one that was paying very good attention and the cashier listlessly checked them out. Entirely missing the fact their local billionaire was buying a few trivial nicknacks for a teenager to keep. Including the stuffed spider toy that was unsuccessful in losing. Tony then paid in another hundred and pulled Peter out of the store before the cashier noticed. It was one of the quirks to being a billionaire, paying in just one bill and leaving behind large tips and shocked cashiers in your wake.

They paused a few yards from the store they exited and Tony checked his watch for the first time in about thirty minutes. He smiled and said, "We should probably go wait by the gates." Just as the intercoms announced Pepper's flight number was landing. Peter nodded in agreement and adjusted the two plastic bags and drink he'd been slowly drinking for the past hour as the two walked over to the gate to greet the infamous Pepper that Tony spoke highly of.

Through the inrush of people coming off the plane Peter wondered which one was Pepper. Tony raised the sign up above his head as Peter pulled the hood down over his face. He didn't miss the amused chuckles from passerbys. After a few minutes Tony put the sign down and was looking around.

"Where is she?" He asked aloud, face creasing in worry as he pulled out a phone- Starkphone, Peter noticed, honestly unsurprised.

"Tony!" A feminine voice shouted towards them. Both of the brunette's heads shot up. Peter wasn't ashamed, okay well maybe he was, about the fact he darted behind Tony as a woman approached. Her hair was a lot lighter than Natasha's and more blonde. She had good posture with a hint of authority. Her attire on the other hand in no way screamed businesswoman, jeans and a band t-shirt that looked like it was from Tony's closet. The woman looked kind, but there was a determined fire in her eyes, Peter noticed. Then her expression softened as she spotted him from behind her finacé.

Pepper, he assumed correctly.

She gave a small smile towards the boy who was obviously not used to being noticed. The strawberry blonde had heard a lot about this teenager from Tony in these past few days. Pepper had to admit she wasn't expecting to have met Peter yet. She thought she'd have to meet him in the Tower. But now here she was, finally was meeting the little ex-HYDRA assassin. Little was an understatement, he looked, upon first glance, years younger than his confirmed fourteen and his eyes were haunted looking.

From the looks of the oversized sunglasses and jacket- both Tony's, she noted, and stuffed spider held loosely in his left while his right held onto Tony's jacket, the fabric had long since conformed into his hand shape. He looked like he'd been glued to the man's side the entire time they'd been waiting for her plane to land. He had sprigs of unruly hair poking out from under the hood that seemed to refuse to be tame.

"Hi, Peter. I'm Pepper, Tony's girlfriend," she said, keeping her voice calm.

"Financé," Tony corrected as he tried to take Pepper's luggage, she just swatted him away. "Let's get back home, I imagine you've been out long enough."

Peter gave a slight nod as they started walking back the way they came. He continued watching the woman out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't that Pepper seem like a threat, she reminded him of... Someone. Someone he couldn't quite place.

Fifteen minutes in the ride home and a pit stop to McDonalds and Peter was only satisfied after three cheeseburgers and a large Sprite. Now he was passed out in the car, having only the leftover energy removed his jacket and pillowing it under his head. His large sunglasses were askew and Pepper had the urge to adjust them. Being in public seemed to drain what little energy the small teen had.

"So who is he?" She kept her voice quiet, so she wouldn't disturb the teenager as she glanced back again. He was slouched in an uncomfortable position against his window. Even with his jacket pillow he would likely wake up with a crick in his neck if he stayed like that for too long.

"He's Peter. Duh," Tony said with an eye roll.

Pepper didn't return the gesture. "You know what I mean. Who is he to you? Do you plan on keeping him?"

"For god's sake Pep, he's a kid not a dog, and no. He's kind of Bucky and Steve's. I'm pretty sure they'd fight me. Me and the rest of us are like a really weird family. An interesting setup really. Like a... _Super family_."

Pepper had a fond smile on her face as she adjusted the mirror to better see Peter.

"So how was your trip?" Tony asked, even though he already knew all the details from Pepper from their chats.

She planted a kiss on his cheek and responded, "Great," she had a smile that could make any human on Earth jealous. Okay maybe that was a little cheesy, maybe Pepper made him cheesy and he didn't mind. "I'm just glad to be going home."

Tony gave a smile back. "I'm glad you're home."

They had plenty to catch up on in their limited time together. Including planning a wedding which they wanted to be special for both of them so they didn't chose a wedding designer.

.oO0Oo.

When they arrived home they were greeted by two angry super soldiers. "Where have you been?" "Why did you take Peter?"

The questions continued until Tony shushed them and pointed to the half conscious teen he was supporting. that was slouched. He'd been glad he was able to make Peter happy and retrieve his fiance... But was it worth being yelled at for stealing Bucky's kid?

Maybe...

Bucky then _growled_ at the man and- gently- took Peter away from him. Leading him to bed. Leaving behind a pissed Steve. Tony winced inwardly at the expression.

Okay, so maybe not.

Steve turned to follow but stopped, he gave a sly smile.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Steve asked.

"To realize he's adopted the kid?" A nod. "He doesn't know?" Tony asked, surprised.

"He's about as oblivious as you," Steve shot back.

"Not long," Tony answered the original question. Steve nodded thoughtfully.

... It was totally worth it, fyi.

.oO0Oo.

(One month, one week after rescue.)

True to Tony's word a week after Pepper came back to the Tower, she went for his hair. At HY-... _That_ place they didn't care about the length of his hair it was still shaggy and had, as Tony put it, 'some surfer who's also in a boy band', hair.

Bucky came to watch, and he also had a book in hand.

"Sit," the strawberry blonde said pointing towards the chair situated in the bathroom.

"Do we have to do this?" He asked, pulling the longer hair mournfully.

"No sweetie," she said. "But I think a new look would be good for you mentally."

Peter blinked. Not a bad point. Having his hair cut by his choice was a freedom he'd never really had. And it _was_ his choice to cut it or not... Signify the major change in his life.

"Okay," he sat down. "Let's do this," he muttered, his nervousness creeping into his voice. Pre-haircut jitters. He had them when he was younger as well.

She patted his shoulder. "Alright then. I have an idea for what you might like. And tell me if you don't like _anything_ , okay Peter? All you have to do is say."

He nodded a nervous but excited smile appeared on his face. Then Pepper raised her small pair of hair cutting scissors and snipped off the first strand. He continued watching as the woman carefully cut his hair. Every now and then she'd pause and ask Peter and Bucky what they liked. Bucky mostly nodded or responded with a thumbs up.

"Okay," she announced as she finished combing and finely trimming the back. "What do you think?"

"Wow," he breathed, running his hand through the cropped hair and pulled it to examine the length of it. It was short but not terribly, the new bangs didn't fall into his eyes so that was always a plus. It was also very inconspicuous and wouldn't drag a lot of attention. It fitted him.

"You like?" Pepper asked, smoothing down a random tuff that stood out.

"Yeah," he smiled brightly. "Where'd you learn to cut hair?"

"I didn't. Tony wouldn't cut his hair and I got tired of his walking around with a shaggy, oily mop on his head, so I cut it."

Peter stiffled a laugh.

"It was pretty bad the first time but I got better at it. What do you think Bucky?"

The man looked up and grunted his approval.

"I can do yours too," she offered snipping the scissors.

Bucky looked up as if offended and one hand went to his hair as if to say 'hands off'. "Absolutely _not_." Pepper just smirked.

Peter looked back to the mirror, he felt lighter. More clearheaded. He felt new, and different...

Maybe it was a new saying. New haircut and new beginnings.

.oO0Oo.

(One month, two weeks after rescue.)

Peter hadn't had a day like this in the entire month and a half he'd been here. Small ones that lasted a few minutes to two hours maximum. But them he had the rare days when his senses decide to try and kill him. They usually lasted for at least six hours, the longest time he'd been out was a day.

From the moment he woke up he could tell it was going to be one of _those days_.

At _that_ place (he just _couldn't_ name it, his mind blocked out the very word from his vocabulary) if he had an overload like this they simply enjoyed observing what happened. They would make the lights brighter or darker depending on those reactions. Sometimes they'd over-stimulate him purposely to trigger an overload for those experiments. They were probably trying to make one without the side effects or they were just bored.

Usually he could try and sleep the overloads off but he could already hear footsteps coming towards his room's door and something told him his plan wouldn't work. He could make out a voice outside his door talking to FRIDAY. His senses were making it too difficult for him to concentrate and take apart the sounds and figure out what was being said..

The door opened and Peter flinched away from the light. "Morning-Afternoon Petey," came the sing-song voice of Tony Stark. If they let him wake Peter up they were probably busy or couldn't do it themselves.

He groaned. Getting up was really sounding bad right now. There was a huff and then the lights were flipped on. The lights burned his eyes. Peter hissed, he could barely see straight as he covered his head with the blanket.

"Nuh-uh kiddo, we gotta get the day started before it ends." And then the blanket was almost ripped off. Almost. Turned out Peter had super strength for a reason. "C'mon, spider-kid. Give it up," another pull and the voice was reaching a earbursting crescendo. "I'm going to bellyflop on you if you don't get up," he threatened.

He groaned in pain again and scrunched his eyes closed and Peter pulled back hard- unable to keep his super-strength under control- and yanked the blanket forwards. Out of Tony's grip and he let out a short, startled yell as he was forcefully dragged forwards, lost his balance, and fell flat on his back. Peter on the other hand curled into the blanket, wrapping it around himself like a protective barrier. With loud grumbling and a few selective words (not Cap approved) he hobbled out of the room rubbing his now sore back.

The next time Tony came (fifteen minutes later, Peter found counting the seconds kept him from hyperventilating), he came with backup. By backup he meant one super solider/parent, Steve. Peter noticed the two separate heartbeats when they entered, plus his own thundering heart.

"C'mon kid," Tony's voice started softly, trying to rouse the teen. And Peter flinched but it wasn't noticeable under his blankets. They hadn't turned on the lights again, yet.

"Tony, what if he's sick? We should take him down to the medbay..." Steve voice whispered. When Tony had come down, an annoyed expression on his face and told them to follow because he needed Steve's help he didn't question it.

"Pete, do you not feel good?" Tony asked, his expression worried.

Peter whined in response, too lightheaded to say anything.

"Can you stand?" He asked coming closer, prepared to help Peter. There was a half nod through the blankets and Peter tried to untangle himself from his homemade cocoon.

Swung his legs over the side and stood. He steeled himself against the bedpost. He was trained to work through pain, he could handle this. If only these Avengers weren't so insistent on taking care of him and he could go back to sleep. His bed looked very inviting (and quiet) right then.

Steve moved to stand by Peter while Tony led. They made it to the hall before another wave of nausea came.

"Pete!" Steve said, startled while reaching for Peter who's knees were wobbling at this point. Peter just as quickly swatting him away with one hand, the other firmly planted over his mouth.

Steve looked panicked, not knowing exactly _what_ was going on. Peter didn't look much better. His other hand he wasn't using to keep Steve at bay was moved to press firmly against the wall now that the threat of puking was over. His face was extremely pale and scrunched as he tried to fight the insistent nausea.

"Too-" his voice was a horse whisper. "It's just- Gah! Too loud," he finished with a short whine as he collapsed against the wall. Slowly sliding down until he was curled on the ground, hands over ears and his eyes squeezed shut.

It didn't do any good because he could still hear... _Everything_. He could even hear rapid heartbeats a few feet away from him as they both tried to piece together what was going on with Peter.

Finally it clicked to Steve. Apparently the super solider serum had left his newly enhanced senses overloaded for the first couple of weeks if he was over stimulated. He could _hear_ the constant hum of electricity as it powered the Tower. Even the workers on their calls, sounds of a cafeteria, and a few people yelling.

Peter slammed his head against the wall, wincing when the sound reverberated back at him. The physical pain helped focus his mind before his vision blurred. There were loud footsteps and then someone else entered, asking what was going on in a normal voice which to Peter felt like a foghorn being blared next to his ears. He let a strangled yell and went to slam his head into the wall again in hopes of knocking himself out. Before someone's hand (but he didn't know who's) was put behind him, effectively stopping him.

"FRIDAY, turn down the lights please," Tony whispered. He was far away and spoke quietly enough that Peter could hear through the waning pain in his head.

The lights went lower and Peter opened an eye not fully but enough to see the person the hand that was cradling with his head was. Not to his surprise it was Bucky.

He felt mismatched hands, one metal one flesh, catch him before he keeled forwards and met the floor. He was laid sideways on someone's lap, he tried not to concentrate on the fact could feel every stitch in the worn jeans and instead turned his attention to the conversation taking place. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to calm his erratic breathing and pounding heart. He was aware of voices above him as he tried to keep from screaming or puking. Neither would be good for anyone right now.

Peter was temporarily subdued with his head in Bucky's lap, his eyes squeezed shut and breathing labored.

Now they had another problem, how could they help? From what any of them knew you needed to remove yourself from the situation and wait for it to pass. But how? The blinds in Peter's room could block out *most* of the sunlight but the walls weren't soundproof. Thankfully Tony had an idea. "Code Blackout on his room," he whispered to Bruce. "That should help."

Code Blackout was something they designed when Bruce first joined. It become a sensory deprivation chamber with settings to adjust it depending on how bad it is. Tony created it because a few of their members had Sensory Overload problems. And with those, like Bruce, it could turn into a dangerous situation if not controlled.

Bruce nodded in agreement. "Let's just get him there first."

The teenager's room was always spic and span which was always strange. It looked like some bored person in their twenties with a cleaning obsession lived in this room and not a fourteen year-old boy. Bucky placed down Peter on his already made bed.

"FRIDAY, initiate code Blackout on spider-kid's room in sixty seconds," Tony whispered. As FRIDAY began the countdown the man turned back to them. "One of us should stay," he explained. That way if something happened they wouldn't have to burst through the door. "Who will it be?" He pointed at both Bucky and Steve. They had both almost (almost meaning not legally) adopted him since he came here.

"I can," both Bucky and Steve said at the same time eliciting a pained whine from the overloaded teen.

Bucky's heart twinged. Steve had a similar reaction but knew Bucky would likely handle this better than him.

"I'll be outside if you need me," Steve compromised. Bucky nodded, grateful that he wasn't the one who had to back down. Bucky joined Peter on the bed. His back propped up on the headboard and pillow behind him. Peter grabbed onto him and buried his face into the man's side. The others took this as their cue to leave, shutting the door as quietly as possible. And then FRIDAY's voice sounded. "Code Blackout activated."

Then it was silent and dark.

.oO0Oo.

A few hours later, don't ask exactly how long because Bucky had no clue, Peter finally started stirring. The teenager opened a dazed eye, seemingly confused as to why it was so dark. "Wha' 'append?" He asked quietly, his mouth felt dry. The overload was long gone by now.

After Peter had fallen asleep Bucky had FRIDAY raise the lights so that he could keep a better eye on Peter. As such, it was dark but not pitch black. The low level lights didn't wake up Peter. It was mostly for the other's comfort to be able to watch carefully than anything.

"How much do you remember remember?" Bucky asked wondering how much he should tell.

Peter's face scrunched up on concentration. Then he quietly admitted, "The day's been a blur..."

There was almost relief on the man's face when Peter drowsily finished the statement. The day wasn't over yet but it seemed like the overload had knocked Peter down for a bit.

They sat silently for a minute before Peter groaned and tried to pathetically gouge his eyes out with his palms as his head gave a particularly painful pulse. Bruce would be back soon to check on them again and bring food and super strength Advil if the teen could handle keeping it down.

Peter buried his face further, if that was possible, into the man's side. Bucky flinched inwardly. Why was he here again? Who's decision was it to have _him_ stay with the child that was severely overloaded and was just as messed up as him?

Oh right... His.

"S'ry," it was muffled and quiet but Bucky heard it. His heart clenched in a strange way.

"What for?" Bucky asked, he didn't know what he was doing. Steve would be better at this comforting thing. The man's hand started instinctively carding through the teen's hair. He didn't know why, it just felt right. If Clint were here he'd make a joke about the deadly Winter Solider going soft. Peter continued to surprise him when he didn't flinch away and instead leaned into the gesture of comfort.

"Don' know. I had an overload?" he asked while staring off at the wall. His words were soft and calm, so unlike the anxious, jumpy teen they knew. He guessed HYDRA didn't like it when his overloads left him incapacitated like today.

"You did nothing wrong, kid," he reassured quietly in a strangely comforting voice. He felt Peter's muscles relax again. It was, however, HYDRA's fault what happened to either of them. They shared *that* about their pasts.

But even after hearing Bucky's words the younger hummed a low, skeptical sigh. Obviously not convinced. "It's not your fault. It happens to everyone who has enhanced senses. Like you and me, hell, even Steve."

"Captain America has sensory overloads?" Peter snorted. At least his humor was intact. His pride, not so much.

"Is that funny?" Bucky asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. To defeat him all you need is a really bright light and some of Tony's music," he said between giggles. Out-of-it Peter seemed less tense. Less anxious and scared.

And after a few more minutes his blinks became sluggish and sleep was already beginning to take the kid, Bucky could tell. So he continued running his fingers through the soft curls until Peter's breaths evened out in sleep. Bucky sighed, once again alone with his thoughts, leaning his head back against the smooth walls. He adjusted himself, moving carefully as to not wake the sleeping teen until he was laying down. Peter shifted until he was firmly pressed against his side.

Bucky froze for a minute until he wrapped his arm around him in a begrudgingly protective manner. Flashes of the earlier panic played in his mind. He remembered how panicked _he_ had been at the fact something was wrong with Peter. Which before Steve was able to figure it out, they didn't know what it was. His mind had just skipped over something like sensory overloads to something HYDRA had done to mess with Peter in the long run.

Thankfully it wasn't, but still... That couldn't happen again. When he saw Peter hunched over in pain in the hall he was freaking out.

He was a worrying mess... A _mother-hen_.

What was this kid doing to him? Because it felt good (and nerve-wracking) to care for someone in a parental manner. Maybe if he hadn't been kidnapped and used by mad scientists he would have settled down and taken in a kid. Maybe even with Steve.

Sure, it was illegal and extremely difficult to even _have_ that kind of relationship back then and keep it a secret but they wouldn't have cared. They'd have moved away from public eye. But something terribly bad still could have and likely would have happened. That was then, this is now. Times were different and he _could_ have a family.

 _You already do,_ a voice inside (that sounded suspiciously like Steve) reminded him as it suddenly dawned. Yes he had Steve and now Peter, but he's already had a lot more as well. The whole team was a lot more than just friends. They were family...

God, he's become so close to them all. They, the whole team, were worming their way into his heart.

How did it take so long for him to realise it? Denial, was the easy answer.

And why-... Why did he not hate it? He guesses that both Steve and Peter were the cause for that change.

.oO0Oo.

 _* Just look up a picture of Tom Holland._ _I can't do justice with just the words Precious bean haircut._

 _'I might post tonight!'_

 _*Ends up disappearing from the face of the Earth for **weeks**.*_

 _Call off the search parties (though I doubt anyone actually cared)! I'm back! Also I am so, so sorry this took so long. I've had it written for these past few days... I just didn't have the energy to edit, and I'd rather sleep until school starts._ _2/3 parts of this chapter. It's a long one._

 _I want to expand on all of their relationships with one another. Romance is the background of this fic (most of it's family). And even though it's not the main point doesn't mean I can't try writing some good 'ole sweet fluff. I'll edit later._

 _I wish I had a Bucky._ .-.

 _Word: 7,400_

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed! / I HAVE OVER 50 REVIEWS AND 200 FAVORITES ON HERE! (THANK YOU ALL FOR STILL READING THIS PIECE OF SHIT AND DEALING WITH MY INCONSISTENT WRITING!) And 2k views on Wattpad! And, holy fuck, 15k views on ffnet?! WHAAAAAAAT??? Tbh I expected like 30 on both, tops. My other stories have like a fifth of that!_

 _~Reviews~_

 _RosettaQueen20: *Nervous laughing.* I **totally** agree._

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 _Guest: ha. Ha. HA. HAHA! kajsjsjsjjs Just know... I have things planned for this little work._

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	12. Chapter 12

**[Practically entirely unedited, forgive me]**

 **Avengers and the Hunting Spider**

 **Part Two**

 **Chapter 12**

(Two month after rescue, Late July)

 _-And did they get you to trade_

 _Your heros for ghosts?_

 _Hot ashes for trees?_

 _Hot air for a cool breeze?_

 _Cold comfort for change?_

 _And did you exchange_

 _A walk on part in the war_

 _For a lead role in a cage?_

 _How I wish, h-_

"Boss, Director Fury is on the line," FRIDAY spoke suddenly, pausing the constant music in the background. Tony stopped writing and glared up, past the ceiling. He began the routine ritual of mentally cursing every deity created when the name Nick Fury was mentioned.

"M'kay, just tell him I'm not here..."

He stared down at his cold coffee. "Or dead," he muttered.

"Boss," there was a tone in the AI's voice that told him it wasn't dropping the subject- what was with this theme of his creations developing emotions? And more importantly, attitudes? Tony sighed.

"Tell whatever members are still awake to meet me in the livingoom," he announced glancing at the Starkpad clock. He sighed. The random ass time Fury had decided to contact them was 3:54 in the morning. Why was anyone even awake at this time? Even Bruce was slouched over his work, mouth open and snoring. Tony grabbed a blanket, draping it over the man's shoulders.

"FRI, put on the whale noises or something, would ya?" He asked as he walked into the elevator. As the doors slipped shut he heard the peaceful white noise replace his music, leaving his science bro to sleep soundly. If anything maybe it would block the yelling match bound to ensure whenever Fury entered the scene.

When he came downstairs he was greeted with only Bucky and Natasha. Both in pajamas. Natasha, the bastard, even looked deadly in a black nightgown. While Bucky was in light colored, old fashioned looking pajamas as well. He could've passed for regular person with an outdated fashion sense, if not for the gleaming metal arm that appeared from his sleeve.

"Okay, we're all here, so put eyepatch through," he said, taking a seat across from them both.

"Affirmative," FRIDAY said and then the large screen tv, which served well for video calls Avenger-related, fizzled to life. Then the picture of their local pirate came into focus.

"Come to check up on your favorite superhero boy band?" Tony inquired with a raised brow. Natasha simply threw him a warning glance but said nothing. Which was fine, her presence was always known, unless she didn't want to be.

"No," the man replied, avoiding Tony's bait. Must be serious, Tony thought. He threw a longing glance in the direction he knew the the mini bar was. Too early for this serious shit.

Thankfully Natasha asked for him, "So why are you calling this early?" She spoke regally like a diplomat making peace.

"Peter."

Bucky's eyes shot up immediately. "What about him?" Tony's eyes went back and forth between the two men. Bucky was always so silent Tony rarely noticed he was there during these meetings with SHIELD. But whenever it concerned Peter... It was like a whole different side. Interesting really.

The man sighed, running his temple. He shuffled a paper outside of their view. "We need to know more about him?"

"So you can experiment on him?" Bucky accused. Tony could quickly see this going south, fast. It was _really_ too early for this. He should have followed Bruce's example and just passed out in the lab.

"No, Barnes. We don't know enough about him. We don't even know the exact origin of his powers, just that they're arachnid based and he has some foreign DNA because of it."

Bucky seemed to be combing ocer every word for the slightest sign of deception.

"So what do you recommend we do?" Natasha asked.

"I would like you and Barton to see if you can get some information out of him," he said. Sometimes Tony forgot two of his team worked for SHIELD, other times he was well aware of it. Bucky flinched at the wording. Fury wasn't known for sugar coating _anything_. He'd be a horrid doctor.

"Anything specific?" She asked, just to know all of her possible loopholes.

"I'll send you a list," he said, then the screen went blank. Leaving the three alone.

They all had questions, of course. How could they not? The files they recovered (though helpful) didn't answer everything. Though they gave a small window into what Peter experienced. But there a couple mysteries that even HYDRA didn't have all the answers to. It was nagging thought at the back of all their minds.

They knew almost nothing about what happened to Peter. Sure they saw some scars that clothing couldn't hide like the small white lines in the palm of his hand, a crescent scar on his cheek that looked like someone had flicked through the skin with a sharp blade. Unless you were really looking, the web-shooters were the only thing most would notice.

How did Peter get his arachnid powers? Was he an experiment during his time at HYDRA or were his powers a total accident? Well their files said nothing. Almost as if they had no clue how he got them.

Though it did state he'd had them before, but for only a short period of time. In fact their scientists had estimated less than a week due to his ongoing reactions to the radioactive changes taking place in his body. So it was correctly assumed that it was Mr. Parker's- Peter's father, who was an expert in cross-gene mutations- experiments that caused it. Which raised a lot of questions and eyebrows.

HYDRA hadn't had much luck recreating Mr. Parker's experiments. But before Tony and his team came and rescued Peter HYDRA had enough samples hidden away and in other cells. Hell, Peter's tissue was probably at multiple locations across the globe. They all just hoped that wouldn't come back to bite them in the ass later.

The problem came back to, they needed answers. But there was a few problems with simply just asking the teenager himself. Peter was practically a professional liar (though he didn't look it) and he would clam up or avoid it. He hardly spoke if he wasn't promoted in some way. Which is why having two super spies and two geniuses as teammates was really useful.

Peter had never talked about his life before HYDRA, hell he never talked about his life, period. It was something none of them questioned. They'd all had their pasts and they were kept hidden for reason. And as much as they hated it, Fury was their boss (Tony would say otherwise) but he also had the ability to interrogate the teenager himself if he wasn't satisfied with his answers. Either Fury would hurt Peter, and though it was very unlikely Peter would fight anymore than just denying it wasn't a risk they could take.

So now they had to 'question' the kid. Their decision was already made for them. Now they had to tell the rest of the team and the kid in question (no pun intended).

Bucky stood, marching towards the stairs, likely to the gym to get some energy and rage out before heading to bed. Natasha walked after him, probably to make sure he didn't beat his human knuckles bloody. The gym was therapy for a few of them, and paid it's weight in triple. At least he wasn't replacing walls daily.

Tony laid back against the pillows, exhausted. Before he talked with Fury he could pull of an all-nighter, now he was just tired. Like talking with him drained all his energy that even coffee couldn't replace.

He groaned as he got up. Why couldn't they be normal for once? And have normal problems like what kind of soap for laundry and not have government organizations constantly breathing down their backs? He had no fucking clue.

.oO0Oo.

Bucky wasn't happy, which was a huge understatement. Peter was finally adjusting to being here. Doing fine here. Getting better. Progress.

He took a deep breath, centering himself and his weight then slammed his fist right into the middle of the punching bag. It flew backwards from the force, chain rattling.

Then Fury waltz in- calls- and demands they *question* Peter. Something like *this* would halt or maybe even setback his trust in them.

He repeated the action. And again.

So yeah, 'not happy' wasn't accurate. It was infuriating because he didn't know _what_ to do. Did he refuse? Fury could- he would because he could- take Peter away from him and question him.

Or did he explain the situation and possibly throw Peter into a panic?

He slammed his fist again and again. Until there was a loud snap, and the punching bag flew off its chain and into the wall.

"Good thing he's a billionaire," a feminine voice said.

Bucky turned around, his eyes not leaving the fallen equipment, and nodded with a huff. Natasha walked forwards and Bucky thought he'd be getting another lecture tonight. Instead she put a single hand on his shoulder. It was surprisingly comforting.

"We have to do this," she said, her voice smaller than usual.

"I know," was all he said. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." There was a silent pause. "When do we have to do it? You know Fury's impatient," he said. "He won't wait long before he does something himself."

Natasha nodded. "Tomorrow?"

Bucky looked at her as if deciding. Then he said, "Yeah, I'll tell Steve to let Peter sleep in while we tell the rest of the team."

"Good-night," she said, standing up and stretching.

"Night." But the redhead was already long gone. Like a phantom.

As went back to his room to salvage a few hours of sleep, he stopped at Peter's door. It was open wide (he hated enclosed spaces and if it was a bad night he only slept with his door open) so he looked in.

Peter was curled up, snoring softly in his sleep. His face was smoothed out and peaceful. In his arms, pressed against his chest was a red and blue notebook.

There was a small spark of hope that maybe this wouldn't ruin all their progress. At least he didn't think he wasn't allowed to use things around the Tower anymore.

He backed out and dimmed the hallway light. Then he went to his own room.

.oO0Oo.

Morning came too early in Bucky's opinion. The sun was barely even shining through his binds when his alarm, that would wake him up before Steve got back from his morning run, sounded. It was sometime in the fives, he'd only three hours of sleep on top of his already shitty sleep schedule. Not that he was keeping track.

He forced himself into a sitting position and waited for his groggy mind to clear. He listened in the hallway for silent steps, hearing none he managed to get dressed and headed downstairs to wait. He grabbed a banana muffin and a glass of orange juice to wait.

Within ten minutes he heard steps from the stairwell and then Steve appeared. Only a light sheen of sweat coated his brow. When he saw Bucky he held up a finger and grabbed a bottle of water. He opened it and took a drink while collapsing in the seat.

"So," he took a sip, "what's up?"

Bucky twisted his fingers. "It's Peter."

Steve's expression went serious and he sat up strighter. "What happened?"

So Bucky filled him in on the situation and what they had to do.

"That's... Horrible," Steve breathed, dread settling in his stomach. Within the next hour and a half four more people appeared. Natasha and Clint were last, both looking troubled. The redhead held a packet of papers in her hands, the SHIELD eagle stamp marking the front.

"What are the questions," Steve asked.

"Easy ones. If he doesn't have a panic attack this shouldn't take long," she stated.

"I'll go wake him up," Bucky said, standing and walking off. He was determined to get this over with as soon as possible.

When he came back he was dragging along a drowsy Peter along. The boy blinked at the ensemble at the table before rubbing his eyes again.

"Please sit," Natasha said, opening a folder filled with papers. Her glossy black pen tapped the table in a never faltering rhythm.

Peter's brow furrowed suspiciously, but he complied. "What's with all," he waved around, "this?"

"We need to ask a few questions," Natasha said.

"What kind?" His heartrate was rising quickly, he was suddenly very awake. Adrenaline does that.

"A few things Director Fury-" The moment she mentioned the Director's name his eyes got huge and a slight fear began creeping up the tired teenager's spine.

"What is this then? An interrogation?" Peter accused. He would love to say it said it with an immeasurable amount of confidence, but that would be lying. Instead his voice was small and had a quiver to it. He was tensed up like a coil, like at any moment he was about to jump out of his seat and through a window to escape.

Thankfully Bucky- who was still right behind him resting his normal arm on Peter's shoulder in an attempt for comfort- noticed and gave the teen a small squeeze.

"It's not an interrogation, we need to know some things about you and your powers," Natasha said using her calming yet authoritative 'de-Hulk' voice.

Peter studied the redhead with those intelligent doe eyes of his, looking for any lies or deceiving intent. Once again finding nothing malicious in the woman's eyes he sat down further in his seat to show he wasn't about to make a break for it. "Can't you just read the r-reports?"

Natasha noticed the stutter and tensing when it was mentioned. "Unfortunately they did not write _all_ of their findings down... "

Peter was trying to inch away from Bucky but he adjusted his hold on Peter and held him closer within his reach. To make sure he didn't somehow hurt himself in a panicked haze. "So you're going to e-experiment on m-me?" The quiver in his words were back.

"N-" natasha tried but she was plowed over by the teen's panicky rambles, "I-I won't!"

He shook his head as if trying to shake away a memory. He started trying to push Bucky away but the man turned him until he was facing him and kneeled in front of the teenager.

"Peter," Bucky said, grabbing his lower arms and shaking him gently. Trying to get him out of his mind before this got too bad. "You're going to be okay."

"I d-don't -" he faltered, trying to find words, instead he sat. Mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, not in his element. At this point there were tears welling up in his eyes as his mind fought instinct over trust.

Bucky watched and hesitated for half a second before pulling Peter into his arms. Peter stiffened and tentatively wrapped his lanky arms around the man, burying his tear soaked face in Bucky's shirt.

They sat there like that for who knows how long before Peter's shaky voice said, "Do I have to?"

The others didn't falter as much (visibly at least) at his small voice. But Bucky's resolve nearly did as he sat down next to the teen. But then he remembered that this would actually _help_ Peter in the long run. But that point didn't stop the urge to protect Peter and take him away from Fury and his questions.

It briefly reminded him of when he was a teenager and he'd try and protect Steve. That was different. This was parental. He could never understand how quickly he'd become attached to Peter Parker.

It probably had something to do with their similar pasts, that will do it. They were both taken by HYDRA and used like weapons. But Peter was for some reason immune to the brainwashing, probably the difference in his genetic makeup helped. And he was forced to do everything or die, Bucky knew he had heightened senses and exquisite memory as well which permanently burned everything experience in his mind. Neither were normal, so maybe that's why Bucky wanted to look out for this teenager.

But at least once the brainwashing was wiped from Bucky's mind and his memories began returning, good and bad, he had a team to help. They'd even pieced together a shaky image of what happened on some of the missions.

But Peter had no one around for the majority of his life. And then all of a sudden he did. So of course he had trust issues. Except with Bucky.

Bucky didn't want to do this 'investigation' to begin with but Fury wanted them to continue to learn about what happened to him. To help understand who the teenager is, he'd claimed. But the team could use the information they'd gathered to set in place a recovery plan specifically for Peter.

"Unfortunately," he answered. "We need to know how to help you, Peter. You don't have to tell up anything you don't feel comfortable with. Okay?"

Peter looked up at him, doe eyes filled with tears and swirling emotions. He gave a minute nod and straightened back up in his seat, staring down at his hands.

The team exchanged glances, they'd become very good at silent conversations. Bucky nodded and Natasha put on a small smile and spoke, "Okay Peter, do you think we can start with a question?"

Peter flinched and nodded.

"What's your full name?" Natasha asked.

Peter looked confused, thinking they would just jump right in. "Peter Benjamin Parker."

"What is your current age?"

"Fourteen, almost fifteen," he replied. Peter knew what she was doing by now.

"Birthdate?"

"It's October the eighteenth*."

"What age were you taken?" Natasha continued, writing down the answers.

"Six," he said with a grimace. Six was a sucky year for him.

"How did you get your powers?" Finally, a real question, Bucky thought. He felt bad for awaiting this one, but it would answer if he was experimented on as a child.

"The day before-... Before it all happened I was, dumb and went down into my..." He seemed to have to steel himself before speaking again. "My father's lab. There were some s-spiders that got out of their containers."

"And they bit you," Bruce guessed, deadpan.

Peter nodded. Tony looked shocked. "Wait, so actual _spiders_ gave you powers? How the-?"

"They weren't _normal_ spiders, Mr. Stark," he said, emphasizing on his point. He ignored Tony mouthing the words ' _of course they aren't_ ' His brow was furrowed as he tried to think back. "Radioactive, I think."

If they weren't surprised before they definitely were now. "Why?" Bucky asked first.

Peter shrugged. "I don't really know. They didn't figure it out either if that helps."

"It does," Natasha said, another sweet smile on her face. Peter remembered when they were trying to duplicate the experiment they had tried to ask for any information he had, 'nicely'. Women with faked smiles would ask him things but he just wanted his mom back. It got worse shortly after he had no answers. The red head's smile wasn't faked maliciously.

"They tried to duplicate it," Peter added. They needed to know that there were others. "With other animals. But... But it never turned out r-right." They once threw him into a cage filled with 'failed' experiments. To let him see what he'd caused, they claimed.

"What other animals?" Natasha asked, writing as she spoke, her eyes were on Peter.

"A lot of them. They were trying deadlier animals than spiders. Like scorpions and snakes... I-it didn't turn out well," he was twirling his thumbs like he was guilty.

"It wasn't your fault," Natasha stated, her voice was asking anyone to say otherwise. Peter's head shot up at the tone but his eyes were looking anywhere but Natasha's.

She continued with a sigh, the sooner they got this over with the better. "Do you know who this man is?" She brought out a mugshot, the name was Preston Baines. The man who'd been in charge of the experiments done on Peter.

Peter numbly nodded.

"Can you tell us anything about him?"

Peter squinted. "H-he was in ch-charge of the experiments done on me."

That they already knew. "I never knew his name before now," Peter admitted.

"What all did he do to you?"

Peter pointed to the crescent divit in his cheek. "Did that the first d-day. He's also the one who ordered the w-web-shooters to be put-t in." His left hand had begun rubbing the metal lightly. A nervous habit.

"How do they work?" Natasha asked.

"The chemicals to make the webs inside me. I was able to shoot webs through my wrists before, but not as strongly. They put them in as both a way to control and strengthen me."

"How many people have you killed?" Natasha asked.

"One hundred and thirty-eight," he answered immediately. A few of them blinked, surprised.

"Why didn't you kill Ms. Stacy?"

Peter met her eyes, his own owlish and confused. "Who?"

"The girl who was inside Oscorp," Tony said, and Natasha glared at him.

"Oh, her. I-I don't know," he didn't. "I was supposed to kill her... But they didn't notice." Natasha nodded, accepting the answer.

"Ya know, that's the only reason we were able to track you down," Tony added. "If she hadn't called the police and mentioned a possible mutant, SHIELD would have never gotten involved."

Peter shuddered to think about where he'd be now. Peter guessed he owed that girl his life. He looked to Natasha. "Any more?" He wanted this over with.

She flipped through the papers and Peter caught a glimpse of fancy handwriting. She pursed her lips and asked, "Are you happy here?"

"Yes," he answered while nodding. He glanced to Bucky who was staring back, almost in surprise.

"Alright," she closed it with an annoyed look. "I'll take this up to Director Fury. Save me some breakfast would you?"

They all nodded and Steve stood and lumbered into the kitchen. Peter shifted uncomfortably before a plate of apple slices was placed in front of him by Clint. Peter smiled thankfully and took a bite. He saw both Bucky and Tony steal a slice from his plate, but he found he didn't mind.

.oO0Oo.

(Three months, early August)

"Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes, Peter, I believe Nick Fury is in the Avengers floor. And he's requesting your presence," the AI said. Nick Fury was there in person... Did Fury ever bring good news? Not often.

The teenager had seen and heard of Fury constantly through a TV screen and phone calls the entire three months he'd been here. He'd been the one who'd ordered the near traumatizing interrogation on him.

But the man hadn't shown his physical face since the first visit. Peter had a feeling of dread settling in his stomach now that one of his fears were coming true.

Fear that Fury would made due on his promise to send him away so his heroes could go back to their jobs, not being worried if he was doing okay. He didn't need all that attention if it would lead to him having to leave. He was perfectly content to just _be_ here.

Here was in the main 'family' room that he, Bucky, and Steve now shared, watching tv with them. Being curled up under a number of pillows and blankets.

"C'mon," Bucky said, standing and helping Steve up. Then he wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulders. He took a deep breath as if preparing for this task mentally. Peter latched onto the bottom of his t-shirt (a habit that had begun when he got nervous) while Steve led the way towards the elevator and they followed.

When they exited, Fury leveled his glare onto them. "Glad you could _finally_ join us."

Tony was in sitting on his couch, looking relatively pleased with himself. Of course he had to go and piss of Fury, Bucky sighed. Sometimes he swore a few of his teammates were actual children.

"What do you need this time, Director Fury?" Steve asked.

"I'm here to take your project off your hands," he said motioning towards Peter who looked on in shock. The others had stages of surprise as well, Natasha was the first to recover.

"Fury I really don't think that's necessary-"

"We've found a safehouse and a family willing to take Peter in. It's not even in our data base and it's otherwise nonexistent," he interrupted. His way of saying the decision was final.

If Fury was here to take him away he would go kicking and screaming. He wanted and _needed_ to be here, at Avenger's Tower with Bucky and Steve. It took him a while to realize it but now he did. The teenager was staring as he began to edge closer to the shaggy haired man.

"Wait," Bucky said. Did he want to get rid of Peter too? "Why can't he stay with us?"

"This is Stark tower. The media's eye is on here 24/7. There are thousands of employees and visitors coming through every day. All armed with phone cameras, waiting to get a picture of anything suspicious. If they find out who he is HYDRA could try and kidnap him. We've managed to line up a family that could take care of him and report only to me," Fury explained. "The longer he's here and not under legal protection the more danger he and you are all in."

"Couldn't one of us adopt him?" Steve asked while Peter stared at him, confusion written clearly on his face. Why did this man want to keep him here? Peter pondered. All he did was put people in danger. He put hi-this fami- no, these heroes in danger as well.

"Who could do it?" Fury put his hands on his hips like he was about to give a lecture. "Natasha couldn't do it, Clint's got kids, Bruce would probably forget to feed him. Steve and Tony are too famous to adopt, the public would find out so fast-"

"What about me?" Bucky said suddenly, not even flinching at all the eyes turned to him. Peter wasn't even blinking as he stared at Bucky in disbelief. The teenager's mind a steady stream of 'whatwhatwhat'.

Fury opened his mouth to argue but Tony interrupted. "That's actually a good idea. I'm sure Fury could pull some strings to make it happen. Including getting Pete a new identity."

The African American man simply sighed in defeat. "I guess that would work. I still want updates on the kid. Hell I even want to know what his favorite movie is." They all nodded, that * was* a fairly simple compromise.

"Do I not get _any_ say in this?" Peter asked incredulously, annoyed they'd just make this decision without him.

"No," they all responded, some in varying degrees of amusement or annoyance (Fury).

Peter must have had a dejected look on his face because Tony faltered for just a moment. Quickly, but long enough for Peter to see the genius' hidden emotions. "Pete, I know you want to be involved but you're just a kid but you try to hold the weight of the world on your shoulders and you deserve to let us handle some of the responsibility. Just let us do this. Besides we all know how attached you are to Bucky and viaversa."

Peter closed his mouth then moved and moved back to Bucky's side. He was far from satisfied but fine with allowing them to take some of the work. Plus as much as he still hated to admit it, he wanted to stay here with this strange, albeit dysfunctional, family. They continued talking about the technicalities of adopting Peter like the teen wasn't even there.

They decided it would work out for the best since James 'Bucky' Buchanan Barnes was a pretty much forgotten name in the shadow of Steve's. They could easily go under the radar with their combined tech to give them new or altered identities that made Bucky Peter's father.

As that was settled, Fury left saying he'd be getting into contact with Tony to work things out. Nick Fury left making a list of what he'd need to do to make this a reality. In truth he was busy and wanted this to be over as quickly as possible.

Excitement (and Fury) gone Peter released all the built up tension in his body. He was wound up in flight or fight mode the entire time and hardly breathing either. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped away from where he was, wedged into Bucky's side. But the man just wrapped an arm loosely around the young's shoulders.

"Now that that's over, who wants shwarma?" Tony gave a sly smile at the team's nods of approval and the twin bewildered expressions of Peter and Bucky.

.oO0Oo.

After getting food and eating their fills they one by one filed into the living room. Tony near immediately left the room to his labs, probably to prepare any paperwork he'd need. Bruce followed, leaving the four of them alone. Clint, noticing the impatient and anxious look asked FRIDAY to put on Star Wars. Clint felt an internal victory as Peter gave a hint of a smile as one of his favorite movies started.

Peter was too jittery with anxiety to sit still without moving in *some* way. Whether it was stretching to tap his toes on the ground to drumming or how he silently clicked his tongue when he liked the background music. When Bucky's arm wrapped around him and brushed his fingers through the teen's hair he stopped. Not wanting to disturb the man with his droning movements.

He relaxed into Bucky's comforting warmth on his side and the fact it was just there. It wasn't leaving, at least for a while. They all sat in silence, the only words were to make popcorn and to lower the lights. Sometime into the second movie Peter, seemingly against his will, yawned. He stiffled it quickly hoping no one would notice. But Bucky did, as did Natasha and Steve.

"Time to get to bed, Pete," he said nudging the teen's shoulder in the direction of the elevator.

Peter looked appalled at the fact he was being sent to bed. "I don't want to." Too much had gone on for him to sleep somewhat peacefully tonight, no matter how weary he was.

"Kid, you look exhausted. Get some sleep. If I know Fury, which unfortunately I do, the papers will be drawn up by morning," Tony said as he walked past and ruffled the teen's hair.

Peter whined but the looks on their faces stopped his further protests. He was exhausted and could work on finishing a few extra finishing touches to his suit idea. So Peter made his way to the elevator, surprised when Bucky tagged along for the ride.

After a few minutes of silence and seeing that the man obviously wanted to ask something Peter finally broke it with a small "What's up?"

"You on the ceiling half the time," Bucky responded automatically with a small smirk.

Peter looked at him with an annoyed, regular _teenage_ expression. "And just how long did it take you you to come up with that?" Peter snipped back.

"You've been spending too much time with Stark, you know that right?"

Peter snorted, back to his regular self once again. Suddenly Bucky paused, he did a 180 (literally) and turned to the teenager. The shaggy haired man crouched slightly to be eye level with the shorter teen.

He didn't want to be tall and intimidatingly looking down on him and to influence the answer to his question. "Do you actually want me to take care of you? Adopt you. I'd like for this decision to be permanent and you should have a say in this part the process. If you want one of the others, or to leave just-"

"No! I mean yes?" Peter continued stumbling on his words, trying to get his meaning across while a pink began dusting his cheeks. "No, I mean yes, I want _you_ to adopt me. Not anyone else." He tapped his fingers together and gave a sheepish smile while looking down.

Bucky returned a more confident smile and no more words were said or needed until the end of the elevator ride. The two got off and went their separate ways with a 'good-night'. Peter closed the door behind him and instead of immediately jumping into bed and falling asleep he said, "FRIDAY, don't allow anyone into my room."

"Yes Peter. As long as your actions cause no harm I will not allow anyone in," the AI responded and there was an almost unnoticeable 'click'. Peter nodded, satisfied with the arrangement.

He brought out his notebook and began adding a few finishing touches and details for the inside of the suit. His sketching and handwriting had improved greatly since he started this two months ago.

Another yawn forced its way out of his mouth against his will. He sighed and he made a resenting noise and put away his notebook. Since the nightmares had begun and Bucky and Steve had started comforting him he had the fear of one of them finding the sketches. He used to hide it under his pillow but he'd begun putting it between the mattress of his bed.

He had no clue as to why he did this, perhaps because he thought they, his now family, would think he was ridiculous for wanting to do this. To be like them. His hands were too red to call himself a hero.

He'd killed so many people, he lived with the actual Avengers now. Could he avenge his victim's deaths? Prevent those like him from destroying lives? Prevent people like HYDRA from taking advantage of creatures like him...

He had no further thoughts because as his mind was occupied in his internal turmoil he didn't realize he was falling asleep already. And it wasn't even past two in the morning yet.

His rest didn't last very long before the nightmares began.

.oO0Oo.

FRIDAY had quietly informed Bucky that Steve had already gone to bed. The man tried but had found that sleep had abandoned him. Every time he closed his eyes they would immediately open some nagging feeling ate at his resolve to sleep.

"FRI?" Bucky asked even though he knew the AI would respond.

"Yes, sir?"

"How's Peter doing?" Any nightmares?

"He is currently in deep sleep. No signs of anything abnormal," the AI responded.

Bucky let out a silent sigh of relief that his soon to be kid was peacefully asleep. He didn't know how other adults handled being responsible for another human's life.

"Sir, Mr. Stark would like to speak with you," she said.

"Thank you, FRI," he said. Nervousness was eating away at him as he made his was towards the elevator.

The sight he was greeted with was Tony flicking through some pages before he looked up in greeting before he announced, "Congrats Buck, it's a boy." The man had a smile on his face as he handed the last of the papers to the shaggy haired man. Bucky had a mirrored look on his face as he held out his hand which Tony took.

"Make sure you sign everything, and read the print, and he's yours," Tony whispered then he left with a backwards wave as he turned and went the way he came, opening the door silently. He was a billionaire after all, he could afford soundless doors.

Before he left Bucky's voice spoke up. "Thanks Tones... I know you didn't really want to bring in another of..." the man struggled for a word to describe himself and the teenager. Mistakes, experiments, weapons. They were all, in a harsh way, correct. "Us. But I want to say thank you. He deserves a second chance more than I ever did."

"That's a lie Bucky."

The shaggy haired man's expression was sorrowful, lost somewhere in his own memories. Thankfully Tony understood and knew to read between the and waved off the his previous statement. "And it's nothing, I promise. You both deserve second chances and if I can help I'll do everything I can... And, if it's any consolation, I think you'll be a great dad."

Bucky nodded, not entirely convinced but it felt like a load had been lifted from his shoulders. He gave a small wave good-bye as Tony closed the door to go retreat to wherever haggard, sleep deprived geniuses go.

I hope so, he thought as he turned to go back to his own room. Peeking in on Peter on his way.

Signing was easy, he read through them and followed the instructions that would seal the deal. they changed his name only slightly, Buchanan J. Barnes. Peter's wasn't changed a lot, but it made unease grow in his stomach at the thought of taking care of another human being. Peter B. Barnes. Peter B. _Barnes_. Who's idea was It to leave someone like him in charge of Peter...?

Oh right, it was him... Again.

When he finished the last of it he laid back against the headrest of the wooden frame of his bed. All that was left was for Peter to sign his name. He let his cool metal arm drape over his eyes. And eventually started drifting off, no doubt to a responsibility plagued dream until FRIDAY spoke up. "Sir, Peter appears to be having a nightmare and is asking for your presence."

Bucky, thankful to have something to do but not the approving of the circumstances, got up quick. "Don't wake up Steve," he ordered. Since Peter had got here he'd been having horrific nightmares nightly. He'd often lash out unconsciously with super-strength. It often took them both by surprise with just _how_ strong the teenager was.

He was 84 pounds and looked like any wind above 10mph would blow his away. Thankfully, as he became more use to them stopping and comforting him during the nightmares he became less physical. Enough so, just one could handle the fits. They, including the infamous AI herself, FRIDAY, eventually come up with an unofficial shift schedule.

Both knew Peter would find someway to disable FRIDAY if he knew she was alerting them, he was smart enough. He would push them away if he found out about their schedule as well so it was a pretty well kept secret between them all though.

He hurried towards Peter's room. The whole floor was technically originally made for Steve but by now it had been deemed the guest floor. The occupied rooms were arranged like a crooked triangle with Steve across from him and Peter's new room down from Bucky's. He opened the door and entered. Tony Stark had not spared any expenses when making the entire tower and their individual rooms. Peter's had remained rather plain as he hadn't cared much about how it looked. He had a bathroom, closet, and them the bed itself. Each floor had a sitting room and small kitchen with an island and chairs for dining.

Bucky made his way over to Peter. The teenager's head was twisting and his expression was pained. He kicked off the blankets sometime during the night. The man reached out and gave Peter's shoulder a light shake to try and wake him up enough. It had the opposite effect and the moment Bucky touched him to try and shake the teen awake, his panic increased and he twisted blindly to get away but Bucky held on through the flailing limbs.

He moved Peter up to his chest, effectively pinning him down while rubbing circles in Peter's curls with his hand. "Peter, just calm down," he mumbled into the teen's hair.

Slowly, dreadfully slow, Peter finally began to stop struggling and like many nights he didn't fall back to sleep. And instead Peter forced one of his eyes open, taking a moment to take in his surroundings. "Bucky?" He asked, obviously still confused. After nightmares his mind muddled the line between reality and his subconscious.

Bucky frowned but wiped it away before Peter could notice. "I'm here buddy," Bucky said and resumed trying to comfort Peter, not realizing he'd stopped while thinking.

He blinked slowly, obviously still tired but it was doubtful he'd try to fall back asleep for at least a few hours. Instead he stayed, quietly staring up at the ceiling with his large brown eyes. At that moment he seemed even younger than fourteen, his features weren't guarded. They were scared and young.

It took a little but Peter eventually calmed down. To probably both of their surprises he didn't try and get away and just allowed himself to be held. But now he was wide awake, but for now he was content where he was.

They probably would have stayed like that if Bucky didn't suddenly shift to get up, dragging Peter along as well. He took them to their floor's common room. It was kept relatively clean since Steve was sometimes a compulsive cleaner.

Bucky wrapped Peter in a blanket. The teen hardly acknowledged the gesture as he was still exhaustedly staring off. He was still shivering, but not from the cold but the fading images of his nightmare.

Bucky returned and sat himself down next to Peter and turned on the TV. Peter finally moved as he looked up at the bright light in the rest of the dark floor. He was here, he reminded himself. Not there. He was safe here.

So why wouldn't the nagging feeling of danger leave him? He was ready, with or without him realizing it, to take off. His body was ready to carry out his original mission. To escape. To escape from who? HYDRA? Done. But he was satisfied at where he was.

But his body stubbornly refused to accept this fact though. And when his mind was vulnerable it was filled with terrors of the Avengers doing the things HYDRA used to do to him. It was all just too much for the exhausted boy, he always felt like no matter how much sleep he got he would always be this emotionally drained.

For now he just didn't want to think. He wanted to stay here, safe, where there wasn't any danger. Sitting next to Bucky who's experiences were alike his own.

So they stayed there. Into the early morning hours that even Steve wasn't awake. They'd done this so many times before as well. Sometimes Bucky or Steve would take him to the roof and let him admire the stars. He'd also watch planes and helicopters fly overhead, or marvel over the blinking lights of the city.

But tonight Bucky and Peter stayed on the couch next to each other, the TV was on but neither were paying attention. Both off in their own worlds until Bucky broke the silence. "Hey Pete?"

Peter turned his head towards the man, his blinks were slow and calm. "Yeah?"

Bucky decided the last thing he needed to do at this moment was stall. But he was so far out of his element. Taking care of a kid! He took a breath, he was responsible for a child now- granted said child was a teen. Still, no going back. "Tony was able to get all the papers finalized tonight. It's all signed and ready."

The teenager was so quiet the man had thought he'd fallen asleep, it didn't help that he was turned away from him. Till a quiet mummer rose over the drone of the TV. "Can I see it?"

Bucky nodded and went to go grab them. By the time he got back Peter had wrapped himself entirely in the blankets. When he heard Bucky coming he popped his head out of it.

Bucky suppressed a laugh at the display and instead handed Peter the official looking folder then sat down next to the teen. Peter shrugged off the cocoon and started flipping through the pages, skimming the legal stuff and signatures until he got to one that had his name on it.

"I need you to sign it as well," Bucky said handing Peter a pen. "You don't have to do it ye-" He was surprised at how the teenager immediately put his name down, not a minute of hesitation on his face. The bags under his eyes showed more in the scarce light. He'd probably been debating this decision for a while, Bucky realized.

Finished, he put it down in his lap. There was the smallest of smiles on his face as he turned to face the man who was now his guardian (dad?).

He paused. Was Bucky even comfortable being his parent? His face fell slightly in thought. The look must have been noticed because Bucky looked at him questioningly.

"So, Bucky... You're, like, my parent now?" He paused for a moment, a small frown on his generally happy face. "Do I..."

He paused and cleared his throat uncertainly, "Do I, uh, have to call you dad?" By the end of his question his voice had become quieter and he was staring at the TV as if it was suddenly very interesting.

Bucky paused, it could be weird for a while if Peter decided to start calling him dad after only three months. But he found himself not really minding either way. Whatever made Peter more comfortable was more important, his own feelings were put aside. The words Peter had used ('do I _have_ to call you dad?'), settled whatever internal debate that had started. "Only if you want to call me that. Otherwise you can _call_ me whatever you want, Pete."

Peter gave a small, but true, smile. "Maybe... In time." Truthfully the teenager had never had the time to properly grieve his blood family while being tortured by _them_. He felt horrible for that fact, but there wasn't much he could do now except mourn properly.

"I'm new to this comforting thing, so if you need anything, from any of us... " Bucky let his words trail off with their own meanings and promises. "Just ask..."

Peter gave weary smile to Bucky as he turned back to the forgotten show mutely playing on the custom made flatscreen TV. The actors were standing around the gravestone of a loved one a feeling of melancholy feeling settled over the scene. "There is one thing I need to do."

.oO0Oo.

 _* It's said his birthday is October 18th, but August 10th is his 'birthdate' of his comic._

 _The story kept changing the status to 'complete', but it isn't, so tell me if it does that again. Also, this is the final conclusion of the split up giant chapter I made._

 _The music is Pink Floyd, Wish you were here. In case you were wondering. Chose that song because I've been a salty little bitch after IW and I wanted to._

 _Word: 7,700_

 _Thank you to all who Followed, Favorited, or Reviewed! I'm trying to get better at writing. Idk if it's working yet._

 _~Reviews~_

 _MagicWarriorDragon: I'm actually afraid it's moving too fast, maybe it's because of the time skips. It probably has a ton of plot holes as well. Maybe when I get to chance to extensively edit, I'll clear it up a bit. :)_

 _CelinaB: Np_


	13. Chapter 13

Part Two

Chapter 13

.oO0Oo.

If there was one thing Bucky had a love hate relationship with, it was with silence. But for now the silence was calming. Peter still had the adoption papers in his hands. Adoption. Peter was _his_ kid- legally now!

Holy crap, Peter was Bucky's kid.

It seemed like it should be a terrifying prospect to the man. A broken soldier man, who for the longest time was unable to even care for himself was now responsible for a smaller human being. And it was, for half a second; before he remembered the fact it wasn't just some kid, it was Peter. And Peter had already been his kid for a while. With or without the papers Tony and Fury had managed to scrounge up.

Bucky blankly watched the show in front of them without really paying attention to it. The volume was low enough it wouldn't wake up Steve who would probably be going out for his run soon. He was content to allow the rest of the morning go uninterrupted in silence just sitting next to his- _his_ \- kid.

And then the silence was interrupted.

"There is one thing I need to do..." Peter let his soft words trail off with a side glance.

Bucky noticed the anxious glances, he seemed to be searching his guardian's expression. Bucky simply tilted his head towards Peter dubiously and he looked away, wringing his hands in his oversized shirt nervously. But after a couple moments of silence, the teen still gave no attempt to finish what he was saying. And it seemed like he wasn't about to speak without prompting.

"Pete," Bucky said and Peter's head immediately shot up, but he feigned looking the man in the eyes and was trying to look anywhere but.

Peter could manage fooling the others, but Bucky could _always_ tell when he was trying to avoid speaking his mind or just trying to stay afloat when clearly he was drowning in what he was thinking. He had plenty of practice in that area himself.

"I meant what I said kid. I'm here for you and so is the rest of the team. Pretty sure Tony has already given himself title of Uncle." He didn't need to also mention how the others had already decided they would be his protectors and family, however hesitant they were in the beginning.

Peter never seemed to remember this fact, however. They had to remind him with small things, but it would sink in and he'd get it eventually.

"I... I, um," His mouth turned downwards and he didn't seem to know how to proceed. It clearly annoyed him to no end, not being able to make a lie up and have Bucky believe it. The Winter Soldier was not easily fooled. Especially when that person had the same teachers, but it was also a double edged sword. But it worked to his advantage since Peter would see the honesty in Bucky. It had somehow stopped being so uncomfortable and more useful.

"I know you do," Peter decided, instead; his words were barely above a whisper. _Did he though?_ The soldier frowned.

"Then what's-" Bucky was cut off as the teen abruptly pushed the blankets away and stood up.

"I really can't do this right now, Bucky," he said, his voice level and devoid of emotion. He kept his eyes down. Not wanting to meeting the eyes of his now-guardian's and have his resolve break (or lash out in frustration). Bucky nearly flinched at the listless tone, having not been addressed with it for a few months.

"I'm sorry," Peter muttered in frustration through gritted teeth. Not wanting this to go on any further and screw up anything even more, Peter turned and started walking away. His steps were measured and forcefully slowed, not wanting to appear to be running away- which in a way was what he was doing. Then he disappeared around the corner.

Bucky didn't follow. He knew when someone needed space and privacy but that didn't stop him from watching Peter's strange retreat, with a frown. And a minute later, Peter's bedroom doors shut, leaving him alone with just his thoughts.

He couldn't help but wonder if this was _his_ fault, and if he's done _something_ wrong. _Good job, Bucky,_ he thought to himself. _Less than six hours and you've already screwed this up. Must have set a new record for yourself._

He sighed and laid against the back of the couch to stare at the ceiling. Peter was about to ask something. But what? His brows furrowed in thought. Maybe Steve knew something about this. Steve would be better at all of this than him. After all, he was just a broken man trying to care and fix an equally messed up teen.

About five minutes later Bucky perked up when he heard footsteps, hoping it was Peter and he could fix whatever he did wrong. Instead it was Steve. The man was still in his pajamas. It seemed he was forgoing todays run. Bucky noticed the time and how dark it was outside. It was dark and stormy, which seemed to match the man's mood. The clouds were heavy and forecasting over the city. It looked like it was about to rain cats and dogs.

"Hey Buck," Steve greeted in a way too cheerful for this early voice as he made his way towards the kitchen. Bucky guessed it was to make one of his healthy breakfast shakes that always made anyone but Bruce, and now Peter, gag.

He was proven correct when he heard Steve messing around in the kitchen. Grabbing all the healthy ingredients he wanted for this morning, then trying to assemble the parts of the blender. And failing, rather loudly.

The shaggy haired man mutely waved a quick greeting from the couch. Steve paused at his troubled expression. "You okay?"

" _I'm_ fine," he replied shortly then winced at his own tone. Maybe Steve could still help with this situation.

"Where's Peter?" He asked.

"Just missed 'im."

"What's wrong?" Steve asked inquired, pressing down on the blender.

Bucky waited until Steve finished blending his shake to actually answer. "I don't know. He signed the papers and all that though." The man froze suddenly, what if that was what Pete was regretting?

"Hmm," the blond walked over, shake in hand and sat on the other side of Bucky. "Did something happening with Peter?" He waved vaguely towards Peter's room.

"He seemed upset," Bucky said, not elaborating until Steve poked him in the side with a chilled finger to continue. "He was about to ask me something... It seemed important. But then he just froze up and stopped."

"Maybe you should talk with him about it," Steve said, putting his cup on the coffee table and simultaneously pushing Bucky to his feet.

Bucky's feet froze where they were. "Come with," he said in an accidental harsh voice. Thankfully Steve didn't hesitate or comment before immediately standing. Then he started walking on the brunettes' side, down the hall.

Before they could even turn the corner FRIDAY spoke. "Sirs, I believe Peter is in physical distress. Beyond a panic attack. Though I can find no obvious reasons."

Bucky's eyes widened almost comically. And Steve spoke, slipping out of the Steve Roger's voice and into Captain America's seamlessly. "We're headed there now. Alert the medbay."

"Already done, Mr. Roger's."

Both of them broke into a run towards the teenager's room. When they reached the door Bucky knocked. "Hey Pete?" Hoping that Peter would answer with a confused look at their panicked expressions and this was all just a false alarm.

After a few moments of receiving no response, the two men exchanged a look. Steve quickly ordered, "FRI, open Peter's door, please."

"Of course Sir. And I believe Peter's condition may be quickly deteriorating, I suggest you get him to medical as quickly as possible." With that chilling warning, the AI opened the doors.

.oO0Oo.

 _Thunk!_ A fist met the wooden table. Hard enough the rattle the glass coffee cups that sat on the conference style table. The seething man behind the fist was glaring daggers at the other. The one who'd caused the reaction was a middle aged man with moosey brown hair and no extraordinary features. His features were schooled to looked more or less bored at the murderous glare being leveled at him.

"What do you mean we don't know where the experiment SM68 is?" He growled. He look like a very angry, dangerous cat with his salt and pepper hair practically standing on end.

"We have gotten no info from our Agents and the signals from the implants are too scrambled to broadcast information," he explained slowly as if the other man was a child, not some who could very easily end him with the silvery pistol at his side.

"What now? Our weapon has been in the hands of the Avengers for the past six and a half months!"

"- But not so much we can't send commands to _it_. We have all we need from the experiment. I suggest we _cut all our ties_ with it."

The man huffed an unbelieving laugh. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"Simple." The taller figure brought out a remote from his pocket and clicked one of the several buttons and a diagram of the wrist implants in their experiment appeared. The man pressed another and they rotated like a slideshow to show the underside. A small slot opened up and showed a diagram helpfully labeled the release of something, poison. Likely into the bloodstream of it's host.

"Poison capsules," he clarified outloud. "The reactions will start slow enough it won't even realize anything's wrong before it's too late. And we can claim the experiment was killed by the Avengers in the beginning, but they took the body."

Salt and pepper frowned deeply. Contemplating losing the only experiment that survived the SM serum versus or letting their enemies use it against them. The other did make a valid point, they had everything they needed from it. And now it was just a dangerous liability. Like all of the other Avengers. And if they decided to train it... Then the risk wasn't even worth entertaining the idea of retrieving it. "Do it before any of the higher ups realize our mistake."

The taller grinned maliciously, taking that as a yes. "Absolutely, sir." Then he turned to his coms that went directly to the people under his lead. "Release the toxin for SM68."

Salt and pepper's attitude shifted dangerously, like a snake preparing to strike. "And you are to _never_ let this happen to the next ones, are we clear?"

"Yes, sir. Hail HYDRA."

Salt and pepper nodded. "Hail HYDRA."

.oO0Oo.

The moment Bucky's concerned eyes left him as he turned the corner, let go of the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. His feet continued carrying him to his room, a safe, quiet place so he could sort out his thoughts.

His hands came up to massage his temples to try and keep down the growing anxiety and irritability.

It was unfair. The way his mouth clamped shut and suddenly he couldn't speak. The nausea that rolled through his stomach and he suddenly felt sick. He found himself unable to breath except the shallow huffs that left him lightheaded. The door shut behind him and he plopped down on his bed and fell back bonelessly. He frowning, what just happened?

The sad look he remembered seeing on the face of the man who had for some reason decided to care about him of all people. It made him want to go back and apologize; but he didn't.

Why did he bother asking for things. He had everything he needed. But he still had to ask for more. Selfish.

He ran a hand over his face with a sigh and reached out to retrieve one of the books he'd started but hadn't finished. The moment his hand made contact with the old paperback, a sudden flash of pain came from both his wrists.

He pulled his hands away from the book and against his chest like it had struck him. Peter frowned and inspected the skin. The skin around the cool metal seemed a bit more red than usual, but nothing as far as he could tell. He must had turned his hands wrong and pinched a nerve or pulled a muscle.

He reached back for the book, hoping to come up with some way to apologize to Bucky. After a few minutes, Peter noticed an annoying itch coming from both shooters so he carefully scratched one, hoping to get some relief. If anything the persistent itch became both worse and had a larger radius. He continued scratching.

Peter stared down at both his wrists accusingly; then blinked in bewilderment at the scratched.

It wasn't that he was surprised to see the raw scratch marks shaped like his nails, or that they were bleeding. He was, however, shocked that they weren't healing. At all. They were shallow and small enough the scratches should be healing before his eyes. Instead they continued throbbing hard and itching. Why were they hurting _so_ bad?

His frowned as he remembered the sharp pain he'd felt when reaching for his book. His gaze fell to the marks. His eyes became unfocused and he had to concentrate to get his vision to return as much as possible. His cloudy mind was wiring to figure out what was happening. Though his mind could only come up with one very good reason this was happening. HYDRA.

Panic, fear, and pain were crowding his brain, speeding his breathing and heart. Somehow, a reasonable thought managed to reached his muddled brain. _Find Bucky,_ he ordered himself and he stood, slowly.

He managed to reach the door before wave of drowsiness overtook Peter. Nearly bringing him to his knees and leaving him seeing stars. He gasped out in pain as he tried to lean against the wall but ended up sliding down to the floor.

It was getting worse, his subconscious realized, rather obviously. His spider-senses were now tingling dully at the back of his head. They didn't help and continued adding to the growing headache that had spread down and his whole body was boiling and freezing all at the same time.

His entire arms were heavy and his skin was tingling like pins and needles. He bit back a groan as a strong throb traveled up his arms and through his neck. And with every pulse it was getting worse.

He shook his head to try and gain more ground on this battle, but only succeeded in throwing himself for another loop.

There was no way he could make it out by himself, he realizes with a panic, he was going to die alone. There was nothing he could do. By this point the idea of even lifting his head from where it'd lolled onto his shoulder was like trying to drag himself out of a pool with no stairs, soaking wet. His entire body's movements were quickly slowing.

He heard a voice from above him. A female voice...

FRIDAY. She was asking him _something_. He couldn't make it out easily. He also couldn't run or call out. The last conscious thought Peter had before his vision blacked out was knowing that FRIDAY was his last hope.

.oO0Oo.

Bucky rushed in, ahead of Steve towards the figure slumped against the wall. _Peter_. He skidded to a stop in front of his kid, and began tapping the teen's cheek. Bucky realized Peter's cheeks ice cold, his breathing shallow. His eyes scanning the kid before him for something.

Bucky swallowed thickly as Peter finally stirred, trying to flinch weakly away from Bucky with a groan. It unnerved Bucky deeply. On a good day Peter could overpower Bucky or Steve. Behind him he heard Steve take in a sharp breath and suddenly the man was kneeling besides him. Steve held up one of Peter's wrists wordlessly, for Bucky to see.

What looked like nail marks ran down and around the skin of his web-shooters, sluggishly leaking blood and a thinner clear substance that seemed to be keeping it from healing. There was dried blood under Peter's nails where it looked like he'd tried to claw out the web-shooters for some reason...

He froze and a light-bulb went off in the soldier's mind. Webshooters. It was because of the webshooters. Poison. Bucky's stomach dropped even further if that was even possible. How could he have not thought of this? Of course they, HYDRA, would have _some_ sort of contingency plan... They'd had one for him, but that was to control, not kill him. They couldn't control Pete for some reason. But now... Now there was no time to waste and dwell, every second counted.

With a grunt, Bucky picked Peter up as carefully as possible and raced out the door. Peter's expression was pinched in pain. Whether it was at being jostled or just generally, Bucky wasn't sure. The teen hardly weighed anything to the man, which was a concern for another day. And there would be another day to worry about it. Steve quickly sidestepped and followed directly behind them, just as concerned but not sure what he could do if there wasn't an enemy to punch. Both men were in the same boat.

The two men and ailing teen crowded into the elevator. It was just about the longest elevator in Bucky's life.

When the doors slid open there was a medical crew waiting for them. Steve managed to catch Bruce's eye as the doctors and nurses took Peter from his arms and wheeled him away. The man's eyes gave away nothing, his knuckles were white gripped so tightly around his clipboard which he was frantically checking off certain symptoms and poisons. When they disappeared from sight Bruce came over to them. His tired expression softened with sympathy and he calmly asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know! FRIDAY just alerted us to someth-"

"The web-shooters," Bucky answered, his voice was quiet but carried. His expression was blank with shock. "You need to get them out."

"They're trying. Since we don't know if the poison will react harmfully with the anesthesia the doctors are going to... Restrain him. Once we get them out, we can stabilize him," he had begun to mutter distractedly as he jotted down notes.

"Thank you," Steve said quietly, his eyes were wide; in panic, horror, or maybe a bit of both. Bruce gave a polite nod and left the waiting room where the two men sat in wait. Bucky was glad Steve was the one who dismissed the good doctor; he knew he wouldn't be able to as composed.

They sat quietly, letting the drone of the waiting room tv distract them; like they did when it was a bad day for Peter. It felt wrong to perform this little piece of normalcy without Pete. Okay, so perhaps it's not the healthiest habit, to distract your worries with British cooking shows- even if they have asmr voices, but it was one Peter did with them. (Know what y'all, I'm keeping this line I wrote at 3am because it's fudgin' hilarious to me.) It hurt to have his kid in danger and being helpless to save him. All Bucky could do was remember these were doctors and nurses Stark hired and they were perfectly capable of taking care of a teenager with mutant powers.

Suddenly both of their phones began buzzing and both men untangled from their slouched positions laying against each other. A brief look showed Tony was calling for back-up in down-town New York. And distantly he heard Bruce's alert go off as well. 'We need our big guns out here', then it had the location underneath.

Another buzz. 'NOW'. Bruce came hurrying out into the waiting room. "Can you give me a ride?" A quick nod from Steve who turned to Bucky who was already rising. "I want you to stay here Buck, I'll cover for you."

"Steve," Bucky said while staring, "what if you need back-up?" _I can't protect you if I'm here._

"I'll have the others, please don't worry about me." His words, _I'm not the one who needs it_ , went unsaid. "You're the best person to stay here. If Pete gets out and wakes up before this mission is over he'll want you."

Bucky went silent for a moment then gave a grunt of gratitude and said in a scratchy voice filled with emotion, "Thanks punk."

Steve crossed the two feet between them to wrap Bucky in a tight hug. "Keep me updated and call me if anything important happens."

"Will do."

And when they both left, Bucky turned off the tv, unwilling to watch alone. The wait ahead was even longer now.

.oO0Oo.

Bucky paced the waiting room outside the infirmary's doors. Not a single nurse had come to update him on Peter's condition even in the half hour before Steve left or the two hours after. He didn't have an excuse to bug Steve, so he paced.

He couldn't tell if the silence was a good or bad thing. They hadn't come in to tell him Peter's condition was deteriorating, but they hadn't said otherwise either. He was here entirely alone, since the others had the emergency two hours ago that had not yet been solved. Steve hadn't messaged him in a while- too long. Maybe he wasn't able to. What if something bad had happened? Was Steve hurt?

The man sighed and sat down again. This is why he had wanted to go with Steve and Bruce, to do _something_ useful. If he couldn't protect Peter right now, the best he could do was make sure Steve didn't get himself killed like the self-sacrificing punk he is. Instead he was still just sitting here, unable to do more than watch the clock from his seat across the room.

Bucky had tried skimming through the magazines- all playboy. This was Stark's building after all, so why did he still get surprised? He didn't bother with them after he saw the entire stack was magazines like that. Not content to sit here and let him mind run free, nor to risk going a few floors up to grab a book he looked around. 'Better Home and Gardens', a newer one given it was in season was stuffed under a couch cushion; probably by a busy nurse on break. Without much thought, other than relief, he reached forwards and took it. It didn't seem to do much good because he couldn't seem to focus on the images in front of him. His mind kept replaying the scenes from nearly three hours ago. He supposed at the time he was in shock or something because he didn't notice the details he currently did.

He knew he'd forever be haunted by the mental vision of his kid trying to gouge out the devices on his wrists with his sharp nails... It had never occurred to him how long Peter's nails were until they drew blood. By the time he and Steve had managed to get to the teen's room, his steep decline had left him unable to do more than shiver and twitch on the floor. And it was scary. It hadn't taken long. They were already headed to his room so what if FRIDAY hadn't alerted them? Would they have been too late?

"Bucky," a calm, familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. The shaggy haired man turned to see Steve in the doorway. His face was streaked with dirt and he was covered in small scratches, which were now rapidly healing which mean he had to have gotten here as quick as he could. But at the moment Bucky couldn't care less about how clean Steve was.

"Hey punk." He grabbed the blond by the arms and pulled him into a crushing embrace. He just had to _know_ Steve was fine and here and HYDRA couldn't take him away. Peter _would_ be fine. He had to be.

Steve quickly returned the hug despite doing the same before had left, and just let Bucky hold him. Bucky was never one to initiate physical contact and Steve wasn't about to deny either of them comfort, however small.

"It'll be okay," he said, rubbing Bucky's back slowly. It always seemed to work with the others but Bucky seemed to just hold him tighter. His knee, the one that had been slammed into the concrete, was aching. So he calmly said, "How about we sit down, okay Buck?"

The man numbly nodded against Steve's shoulder and the blonde directed them to the waiting sofas. Unlike actual hospital furniture they were comfortable and large enough for them to sit side by side. That's Stark for you, but both were quietly glad for the small mercies. Steve managed to get his busted leg propped up on the coffee table while Bucky eyed him warily. The blonde man simple gave Bucky a reassuring smile.

"Any updates?" Steve asked, hoping to escape Bucky's familiar condescending look that said 'you aren't fooling me, punk', some things never really changed.

"No," he replied. "How's the leg?"

"Not broken," Steve answered quickly. "I had Bruce check before he went off to crash for a few hours. Just bruised and sore."

Bucky nodded, the difficult to detect concern in his eyes seemed to lessen slightly. Steve turned the tv on and managed to scoot closer to Bucky.

The two stayed like that in near quiet for around thirty minutes. Only making the occasional comment for a recipe Steve maybe wanted to try.

Until the waiting room doors opened _finally_ and a young man with blonde hair peaked his head out from around the corner. When his eyes landed on the two men he gave a quick smile to show he was bearing good news. He had a pristine doctors coat, his nametag stated his name was Solace. He had blue scrubs on underneath the coat and a clipboard in hand.

Both men were quietly holding their breaths as he walked over.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Solace. I am the surgeon who preformed on your son. I'll give you the good news first. Peter has had both webshooters removed. We believe we may have removed what poison we could, and have stabilized him for now," he finished.

"And the bad news?" Bucky inquired.

"We are unaware of the type of poison it is. Our labs are working on identifying and creating an antidote."

"It's HYDRA," Steve blurted. If they didn't know the makers it would be harder, HYDRA had a style.

"I'm aware," he gave another sunny smile to try and calm down the agitated guardians. "It shouldn't take much longer... In fact," as if on cue the pager hooked to his belt beeped. "That's probably the labs now. There is a long road to recovery, and your kid's a fighter. I believe he should do fine and bounce back with the right help. I hope to speak with you soon and bring more good news."

"Wait!" Steve blurted and Solace turned around. "Can we see him yet?"

"Not yet. Give a few more hours. His immune system was compromised and is dealing with fighting the poisons. It should bounce back soon but we have to be careful."

With that the young man left, it felt like Bucky could breath again. Peter would be fine. Eventually.

.oO0Oo.

Sure enough, Cho also came with more reports. Peter was now in recovery receiving the antidote for the cocktail of poison put into his system. Said poison was keeping him from healing much quicker than a regular human. Though his healing factor was definitely there and _had_ made a noticeable difference and his injuries were healing a few days ahead of schedule for a regular person.

The doctor said he would be moved to his own room in the medbay soon enough, but they were keeping him under close eye. Even Bruce popped by to hang around with the two until he became restless and left to find Tony or go to the labs to finish some project or another.

When Peter was well enough for visitors Cho went to deliver the good news.

"Only one person at a time," Cho said with a tinge of regret. "The recover room is small, but when he gets a real room you may both go in."

"How long does he need to stay," asked Bucky. The man just wanted Peter at home.

"A week at most, then, he needs to rest."

"You go," Steve said immediately without waiting for Bucky to say anything. "I'll wait here. He should see you first."

Bucky nodded for the doctor to lead the way and followed her until they came to a small section of the room that was curtained off. She drew back the curtain and motioned for him to enter and he came to a stop. Peter looked far too small and young laying prone on the bed which almost seemed too small for the fourteen year-old. His wrists where the implants once were were now tightly bound with all sorts of tubes and ivs coming from beneath the bandages. He was hooked up to several monitors displaying his vitals and oxygen levels.

His eyes were closed his dark lashes prominent against his pale pallor. It seemed wrong for this over-energetic teenager be so still and silent. There was a chair sitting near Peter's bed for visitors so Bucky took it. Cho spared one last look over the charts and monitors, then left.

Bucky sat there in silence for a while. Steve continued sending him text messages during that time. Bucky had offered to switch but Steve said he could wait to see Peter when he got moved. Despite how uncomfortable Bucky knew texting made him, the man was immensely grateful he could keep in contact with him in the waiting room. But it was also a another reminder they were two men stuck in the wrong time. The nurses came and moved Peter to the different room he'd be staying in for the next week and Bucky followed.

It was around dinnertime when finally Peter began stirring. Steve had gone to pick up dinner, his leg was fully healed and he felt antsy sitting and not doing anything. Eventually a few seconds a small groan passed through his lips, gaining Bucky's attention as he broke through into consciousness.

"Come on, Pete," Bucky encouraged. "Open your eyes kiddo." He rested his normal hand on Peter's shoulder until a pair of brown eyes slid open. They were cloudy from painkillers but landed of the arm on his shoulder, then to Bucky.

"Hey kid."

Peter made a groaning noise that sounded like, "Bucky." Then he winced, whether the kid was wincing at the sound of his voice, or talking with a dry throat, Bucky guessed both. Then he turned his attention to his arms by his sides and his head was tilted ever so slightly to get a good look at them.

Peter turned to Bucky and opened his mouth, to speak but didn't seem able to well. "Here," Bucky grabbed the cup of cool water on the bedside table that was left for this purpose and helped elevate Peter enough to drink. After a couple small sips Bucky moved it back.

Peter didn't say anything for a few minutes, long enough Bucky thought he was trying to pass out on him. Which was fine since he needed all the rest he could get.

His lazy brown eyes drifted over and met Bucky's own, and he noticed with a shock they were watery. His breathing was picking up as was his heartbeat, evident by the rapid beeping.

Bucky panicked for a minute before just letting instincts take hold and crawling onto the small bed (rules be damned) and scooping Peter into his arms. Peter wrapped his skinny arms around the man and grabbed ahold of his shirt and held on like it was a lifeline, his shoulders shook with small silent sobs.

Bucky wrapped his arms around the small kid tighter, some parental instinct complained about how he was small enough to curl into Bucky's chest careful of the lines. He was stiff as a board in arms, clearly unfamiliar with being comforted. About as much as Bucky was unfamiliar with _giving_ comfort. However, within a few minutes, which felt like forever to Bucky, the sobs quieted to hiccups and Peter was slumped against Bucky with drying tears on his cheeks.

Bucky wordlesly handed him the new cup of water left on the side table which he took a few sips of. It was the first time Bucky had seen him cry emotionally and Peter needed all the fluids he could get. Bucky definitely didn't want to risk him getting dehydrated and causing complications in his recovery. He could already tell how long antsy Peter was going to get.

"I thought I was going to die," he whispered, flexing his fingers that were just barely sticking out the end. They moved weakly, probably as much as he could do at the moment. "That- It's not even the wors-st part. There... There were other times I-I thought I was going to die.. But..."

"You're too stubborn to do that, Pete," Bucky said softly, his hand was gently carding through his kid's hair. "And you have us to watch out for you. It's terrifying to almost die." He knew that all too well. The solider faced more than enough near deaths for a few lifetimes. Peter did too. "But you don't have to deal with that alone anymore, you've got me, Steve, and the others."

"Exactly. I have- A place, a _home_ , a _family_ , where I belong. I just got it- I finally have one again- and I almost died. I almost lost it. And I couldn't stop it, couldn't fight it."

A heavy silence descended over the two males. Bucky didn't know what to say to make it better or to change the subject and distract his kid. He didn't think he ever really would. He watched Peter, the kid's expression blank from the drugs in his system, dried tear tracks smudged on his cheeks. Bucky wished Peter would never have to feel that again, to take away his sorrows. But that wouldn't be reality.

He brought Peter close to rest his head on the man's chest. He didn't know what else to say besides what was on the tip of his tongue. "We're not letting you go, Pete." We'll fight for you. We'll keep you as safe as possible.

Peter didn't answer, apparently too enamored by the cooking show on the tv. Both males knew he was just distracting himself, but neither said anything.

"Did Steve cook much... Before?" Came the quiet, hesitant voice of Peter Parker.

Bucky's brow furrowed in confusion at the sudden change of topic. "Before? The war?"

He felt Peter nod against him.

"Sometimes," and jumping on the given distraction Bucky started telling Peter about Steve's pre-serum culinary days. It was boring enough Peter dozed off fifteen minutes in. Which was good. But he was such a light sleeper he started if Bucky moved too much.

He Peter when Steve came back to have dinner with them. He wasn't able to stay much longer after before he had to get back to his next mission. Most were reports of HYDRA activity. Which according to him were getting more frequent.

Peter had suggested that they change the channel. This time they found a newer show called Gravity Falls, which both thought was strange but neither moved to change it, so they settled on that.

Bucky noticed that Peter was starting to space again, out not even halfway through the second episode.

"Hey kid, you tired?" It was only eight o'clock; which may have been early but he could only fight the painkillers for so long before they knocked him out. Not receiving a response he snorted softly and turned the tv off. He moved to get out of the bed and onto the sofa on the other side when a voice interrupted.

"Bucky?"

"Hm?" Not asleep yet apparently. He settled back against the headboard.

I- I need something..." The last part trailed off into mumbles.

Bucky blinked himself fully awake from where he was dozing off. "What is it?" He asked, worry in his tone. Was Peter in pain? Did he need something from their floor?

"Nothing," Peter said softly, watching the his guardian's tired expression again with that same expression he wore less than 24 hours ago. "Go get some sleep."

"No," Bucky rubbed his tired eyes. "You said you needed something?"

"I-it's not important, honestly," Peter defended, he was wringing his hands again and biting his tongue. Peter felt it was a stupid thing to keep Bucky awake for.

"Peter," Bucky said, drawing the named teenager's attention. "If you need something you _nee_ d to ask for it."

Peter looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here at the moment. Bucky nudged his arm lightly in encouragement. After all, he knew he hard it could be to ask for something.

"I want- need something." He stated again. Bucky just nodded patiently.

"I need to... help people," he grounded out, pausing to see the man's reaction.

Bucky's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "What do ya mean Pete?"

The teen took a deep breath and met Bucky's stare with his own. "I want to be a superhero."

The shaggy haired man blinked once... Then twice. " _No._ "

"Why not? As far as they know, I'm dead," the latter looked unconvinced. Peter looked him straight in the eyes. "Please, Bucky. I _need_ to do this."

The two held a silent stare off. Peter was not giving this up without a fight. And Bucky... Well Bucky just wants him safe. And while Peter does appreciate it, on this he wasn't taking 'no' for an answer.

"I have few conditions," he finally said, breaking off the staring contest, his eyes landing on Peter's wrists which were wrapped in so much gauze he could hardly move his fingers.

"You are to wait until you're entirely healed. Which should give Tony plenty of time to make you a some sort of teched up suit." Peter's eyes lit up at that. "And, yes, I'm sure Stark won't mind you helping, he seems to enjoy having another person in the lab."

Peter gave a small smile at that.

" _And,_ you will have a curfew and schedule."

Curfew? Schedule? Peter tilted his ever-so-slightly head with a questioning look. He must have voiced that thought outloud.

"You'll need one since you're going to school," Bucky answered bluntly in his deadpan voice.

Peter blinked dumbly and tilted his head. "What? Why?" He knew HYDRA taught him more than a school could since he was a child.

"A couple reasons. One, you need social interaction. _Besides_ us or the rest of the team, Pete. You can't just expect to hang around the tower for the rest of your life. Two, you'll learn valuable life skills you'll need even if you know what's going on in class," Bucky explained with arms crossed in an awkward parental stance from where he was slouched on the bed next to Peter. It looked like he was still trying to figure out how to do it right, but the general statement seemed clear enough: No arguments. "Need I go any further?"

Peter stared for a second. It didn't seem too bad of a compromise, just inconvenient. But his mind was too fuzzy with relief and the painkillers he finally agreed in with a sigh. "Okay."

"Good," Bucky said, then added, "It wasn't really negotiable. Tony and Bruce already agreed to help get you caught up; and with homework if Steve and I can't figure it out."

Peter gave a huffy laugh it maybe just seemed like Bucky was implying he was in fact an old fossil and not a HYDRA soldier who knew how to hack and dismantle most security systems with ease and a little high school math couldn't be _that_ hard.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," he said truthfully, with a small smile, instead.

.oO0Oo.

Peter had been stuck in the medbay for a little under a week. The doctors finally decided he was well enough to leave the following afternoon. The entire time he wasn't allowed to leave his bed or the room without assistance. From his guardian(s) or a nurse.

He was stuck asking for help when his extreme case of cabin fever became too much to bare and he needed to walk around the halls. Still not allowed to leave the floor. He didn't bother trying to leave knowing most of his powers were shut down momentarily and Steve, Bucky, or another would just drag him back.

Although the other Avengers had made the time more bearable. They dropped by with balloons and cards saying 'Get Well Soon' or to come play a board game. However it had been Bucky or Steve that never left his side. One or the other was always around his room or in a chair besides his bed.

Currently Steve was away on a lot of missions. Bucky was able to stay most of the time because he was one of the Avenger's more covert members, Steve had a bit more of an obligation to if he didn't want the media suspicious. But he was supposed to try and finish up before Peter got discharged from the hospital.

"Hello, Peter," the doctor, Will, greeted quietly, sparing a glance to Bucky, still snoring away on the plush couch. He sounded far too cheerful for this time of the morning voice.

It was the same way he'd greeted Peter every morning of this past week. He'd been here long enough to get a routine for every morning. "I'm going to change your bandages and a nurse will be here soon enough with some breakfast."

After being here a week with nothing to do but count the nonexistent cracks in the wall, he'd suddenly started talking with the many nurses who came by throughout the day. As such he was bound to learn stuff about them. He also knew Nico, Will's fiance, who had popped by on the third day to drop off lunch for Will. Peter had wanted to meet him, and after having meet them, he could say the duo honestly reminded him of Bucky and Steve. They were almost scarily alike.

Will went to work unwrapping and checking the slightly pink skin for any signs of infection or relapse, but found none. He was healing a little faster than a normal human but far from his usual speed. The stitches would be removed before he left medical, but until then the plastic sutures stuck up from the rather jagged incisions. Solace got new, clean bandages and re-wrapped his wrists. Satisfied, he discarded the bloodied ones in a the hazmat bin on his way out. They'd traded the miles of gauze he had when he'd first woke up for a thin wrap.

"Excited to get out outta here?" he asked with bright smile, he sounded ecstatic enough for both him _and_ Peter. It made Will one of the easier people to get along with.

"Definitely. Noon right?" He didn't have to ask, he'd burned the time and date into his mind while waiting with only mind-numbing tv and two not-entertaining soldiers to keep him company. Not that he minded, too much, but he was also anxious to start helping Tony make the suit.

"Yep." He reached over and ruffled Peter's hair. "You better be good."

Peter shot him an indignant look. "When am I not?"

Will smirked and raised an eyebrow. "See you later, Peter."

The teen just huffed a good-bye as the blonde left the room.

Bucky woke minutes before a brown haired nurse appeared and dropped of their breakfast food. Tony, being the Tony Stark he is, had chefs that Stark Industries hired to prepare food for them. Peter ate quickly while Bucky had more patience.

The minutes seemed to crawl but eventually 1 o'clock struck. By then he was practically vibrating with pent up energy. To say he was beyond ready to get discharged from medical, was an understatement.

Bucky raised his hand and put it on Peter's head to stop him from bouncing. He didn't even look up from the book he was reading to do so. There was a knock at his room's open door and Peter perked up. Then Peter realized it was just Steve and deflated with a huff.

"Wow, Pete," Steve chuckled, "don't get _too_ excited."

"He's about ready to vibrate through the walls if Cho doesn't hurry and release him," Bucky joked, deadpan.

"What time is it?"

"Same as the last time you asked," Bucky replied.

Then finally there were three quick knocks on his door and Cho entered, breezing past Steve where he stood in the doorway and over to Peter. She removed and double checked his stitches then worked on removing the one precautionary IV that was delivering the painkillers they'd been slowly weaning down on. Enough so he could use milder painkillers.

Cho was going over the instructions for Peter to Bucky, including the changes, when he needed to come back and have the stitches removed, and the very mild painkillers he would be on for the next week. Steve was standing on his other side, listening with acute attention. By the time Peter was starting to inch towards the door, doctor Cho finally told them to go.

They rode up the elevator and exited on their floor. Peter took a deep breath in and sighed out in relief. It felt good to be home.

.oO0Oo.

Tony said they would start the next Monday, a full week after his discharged. Bright and early, according to Tony. He took off the sleep ruffled bandages that he slept in and put on a sweater that covered the healing scars. Then he got into the elevator to the labs. He was surprised when he didn't feel as anxious about being in the small space. It was still there of course, just no longer as prominent as before.

Tony was already there, working on one of Clint's arrows. When he noticed Peter the inventor beckoned him over. When he did Peter canted his head. "Whatcha working on, Mr. Stark?"

"Tony," the inventor corrected automatically. "Hawkeye wants flare arrows. Even though I can't think of a good instance where we'd need them. But now that you're here I have an excuse to not make those."

The inventor stood walked ahead, leading them both over to a semi-clean desk. Peter put his bag down and started digging through it. "We'll need a base to work off of, " he grabbed a scrap piece of paper and smoothed it out on the desk, "so let your imagination run wil-"

Peter held up his notebook with the several rough sketches littered through them. "Will these work?"

Tony blinked in surprise as he took it from Peter and started examining the teen's latest sketch with a scrutinizing eye. "Well shit, kid. How long have you been working on these?"

Peter shrugged slightly. He hadn't been able to work on them for the past two weeks so a couple of them were still missing things. To his surprise Tony didn't ultimately scrap them and say start over, instead he put it down on the desk. "These are pretty good, kid. What's this stuff supposed to be made of?"

"Spandex," Peter answered and Tony turned to him a little incredulously.

"Spandex? Really?"

"It needs to be easy to move in, Mr. Tony."

"Fine, but... I'm adding some protocols into the suit."

They worked in mostly silence, well Tony worked. He did the sketching and Peter pointed out that he needed new webshooters with a forlorn look towards his wrists.

"You need a name. I mean besides the Hunting Spider," Tony pointed out. He was practically leaning on the table to sketch possible technological modifications on the suit Peter had already designed.

Peter was a little surprised but the sudden topic, and he had to admit he hadn't really thought of it. He thought he'd just always go by the Hunting Spider.

"HYDRA believes you're dead right?" Peter nodded even though the mechanic wasn't looking. He was still a little uncomfortable with that subject. "You'll need to go by a different name then."

Peter thought for a moment. "The Human Spider?"

"Too long," Tony waved at him with his pen.

"Um, Spider-Man?"

"You're more like a Spider-boy."

"No no, I'm a Spider- _Man_."

"Whatever you say, Spider-baby. You know, now that I'm hearing it outloud, that doesn't sound too bad. Watch out! Here comes the Spider-Baby!" Combined with his theatrics and ridiculous name, Peter found himself fighting a slight grin.

"Hey Petey."

"What, Tony?"

"What do you think about this design?" He pointed to the newer design. He redrawn over all of Peter's messy pencil lines with a clean darker pen. Improving and adding a few new things to the designs. The most interesting parts where the scribbles of extra things Tony wanted to put in it. Parachutes, a heater, _instant kill_. Peter turned to Tony a little incredulously. His expression seemed to read _Really_? as he pointed to it. The man just shrugged.

"Buck gave me a list," was his only reply.

Peter sighed in exasperation. He seemed to be getting a hulk-buster instead of spandex. Some of the modifications seemed pretty cool - _interrogation voice?_ \- and Tony had approved the idea of putting an AI in.

And underneath that slight irritation at all the doting protocols Peter knew weren't _all_ Bucky's idea, he was rather content. He would still get to help people. Work on cleaning his ledger. And on some childish side he had this ecstatic feeling that this hero thing would turn out to be pretty cool.

.oO0Oo.

 _Word: 8,400_

 _Guest, Yasmin: I just so happen to love Damie, so that might have some correlation as to why they may act similar at times._

 _Guest: :)_

 _SongNoFound: :)_

 _BookingJay: Wow. I'm both flattered and surprised. :)_

 _IDontWannaGo: Your. Name. Gives. Me. Mental. Trauma. Go. Sit. In. The. Corner. And. Think. About. What. You've. Done._

 _Guest, Ekma: :)_

 _Guest, Plutodragon: Hope you had a great bday :)_

 _.S: Yeep. You and another on Wattpad said the same thing. It doesn't make sense for Tony to adopt Pete._

 _TheBookWorm33: :)_

 _MagicWarriorDragon: :)_

 _CelinaB: :)_

 **(All the comments about Nico and Will on this chapter: -~-' y'all I only threw them in for a cameo last minute because I was working on my PJO/Avengers fic and I was thinking about PJO. They probably won't be back in here again tho. It was a reference 'cause I was bored and thought it was funny.)** **[In other words, please stop commenting about it.]**

 **\- Shiro**


	14. Discontinued

So heyyo it's me CIO. I think I have a few things to say.

I wanted to say... Thank you all so much? Yes, that's it. So, um, wow. 60k+ reads? That's more words than are in this story, first of all. I expected maybe a handful of reads and for it to be forgotten in the deepest darkest recesses of Wattpad (where it belongs). But it didn't? I honestly expected more hate on this mess than it actually got.

So, uh, this story, for the year where I was very heavily writing, it was my emotional crutch I guess. It's not really the best way to deal with it but I threw myself into whatever I could.

I know this story isn't the cleanest, well put together story out there. It's filled to the brim with typos and inconsistencies. I wrote when my thoughts became too loud which is why it's so messy and all over the place. I've thought so many times about deleting it, I'm glad I haven't because even though it's bad, people still seem enjoy it. And that makes me really happy.

But all of this leads me to my conclussion. I'd like to stop writing this story. I had a bit more plot planned for this but I don't think I'll be getting to it anytime soon so I'm going to end this story after this (maybe write a one-shot or two placed in this au to expand on Peter's relationship with Gwen because even though I am totally for current canon I like GwenXPeter. Maybe even some of the aftermath of HYDRA's meddling I'm not sure).

But I feel like this story is holding me back from writing anything else and I don't want to abandon a story without explanation like I've done before. So, it's over. But I hope to see you again my friends :)

\- Shiro

Ps.

Came very close to deleting this.

I have a Tumblr now that you're welcome to go follow and interact and stuff the user is **calm-is-overrated**


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